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| By: israelinsider staff |
| Published: March 11, 2007 |
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The Israeli Navy fired on three Palestinian boats suspected of weapons smuggling Sunday morning as they attempted to enter Gaza from Egypt, injuring two.
According to Palestinian sources, two fishermen were injured, one's arm having been severed, reported Haaretz.
IDF sources say the Israeli Navy had been tracking the three Palestinian motorboats, which appeared to approach the Egyptian shore, make contact with an Egyptian ship, and load goods, presumably weapons, from the ship.
According to the IDF, the navy ship first ordered the Palestinian boats to halt, then attempted to stop them by firing warning shots, and only commenced firing at the boats themselves when they continued moving towards the Gazan shore.
Despite the naval fire, the three boats reached the shore of Gaza. It remains unclear whether the goods were weapons and if they entered Gaza.
According to the IDF, "These were not innocent fishermen, but smugglers," Ynetnews reported.
Gazan sources told the Ma'an news agency that the two fisherman, Sami al-Kouka and Ali Ibrahim al-Kouka were fishing off the Rafah shore when the Israeli naval ship opened fire on them, destroying their boat, the former wounding his arm, the latter sustaining full-body shrapnel wounds.
Since the IDF's disengagement from Gaza in 2005, there have been numerous weapons smuggled into Gaza from Egypt, many by sea. In May 2006, the IDF uncovered and confiscated over one ton of explosives in two incidents to be used to make Qassam rockets in Gaza, reported Ynetnews.
Qassam's are fired at Israel almost daily from the Gaza Strip, terrorizing Israel's southern communities. |
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