“After our distress call was made, a force from the Saudi Coast Guard came not to rescue but to arrest us. They took us to the Farzan Prison in Jizan on charges of reconnaissance.” — Yemeni fishing boat captain Hamad Ibrahim Abdo Majri
As is the reality with most elements of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation, the greatest challenge in Gaza’s fishing industry is not the weather, or fluctuations in the market – it’s simply living to fish another day.
The Gaza Strip, just six miles wide, boasts a twenty-five-mile coastline on the Mediterranean Sea. Fishing is a natural industry in such a location and as recently as 2000, was a lucrative business for ten thousand Gazans. Today, only about 3,700 remain in the fishing trade – and about ninety-five percent of these live
“Despite Sweden’s truce, Coalition forces have continued to prevent Yemeni fishermen from fishing and if the fishermen dare to sail, they will be killed or detained.” — Mohammed al-Hassani, head of the Forum of Tahamah Fishermen
HODEIDA, YEMEN-- The Saudi-led Coalition kidnapped more than 170 Yemeni fishermen and seized their boats while they were fishing near the port city of Hodeida this past week. To demonstrate clearly that they posed no threat, the fishermen hung large white flags on the back of their boats and waved fish in the air as Coalition military vessels
With neither its farmers nor fishermen safe from Saudi coalition attacks, famine has become a massive crisis in Yemen, further exacerbated by the coalition’s blockade of the country which largely prevents food from being imported into the troubled nation.
HODEIDA, YEMEN -- “They told us that if we didn't confess they would kill us and throw our bodies into the sea for the fish and birds to eat,” recalls Omar Ghalib, a Yemeni fisherman who was kidnapped by Saudi fighters and then tortured while out in his boat late one evening in Yemen’s port city of Hodeida. We arrived to our usual fishing
Over the weekend the Saudi-led coalition bombed a water treatment facility, targeted and killed a number of fishermen, used banned cluster bombs and targeted a Yemeni radio station.
HODEIDA, YEMEN -- The U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition conducted numerous airstrikes across Yemen this past weekend, especially against the strategic port city of Hodeida. Heavy civilian casualties have been reported, as has the use of cluster bombs against civilian targets. Hodeida’s water and sewage treatment infrastructure was also targeted in
In 2016 alone, there were at least 126 incidents in which small wooden fishing vessels were fired on by the Israeli Navy.
On Al Nakba Day of all days, the Israeli Navy killed another Palestinian fisherman, Muhammad Majid Bakr. The second in this year alone. The Israeli Navy claims Bakr’s fishing trawler responded neither to their calls, nor warning shots, after deviating “
