A local committee documenting Israeli violations against fishermen said that Israeli gunboats opened fire at and intercepted a rowboat within two nautical miles from the northern coast of Gaza and rounded up two fishermen aboard it.

The detained fishermen are two brothers identified as Safwat and Rif’at Zayed.

Israeli gunboats are around Gaza fishermen almost every day, harassing them, shooting at them, damaging their boats, and making arrests. Sometimes fishermen are injured or killed during gunfire attacks.

Under the 1993 Oslo accords, Palestinian fishermen are permitted to fish up to 20 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, but since then Israel has kept reducing the fishing area gradually to a limit of three nautical miles as part of its blockade on Gaza.

Fishermen and human rights groups also say that, since the 2008-09 war in Gaza, the Israeli army has been regularly enforcing a limit even closer to the shore.