Ramallah, October 16 (RHC)- The Al-mezan Center for Human Rights screened a film about the suffering of Palestinian fishermen and held a photo exhibition on their daily lives in the impoverished and blockaded coastal enclave.

The Gaza Strip’s coastal area is rich in marine life but Palestinian fishermen are deprived of it due to the suffocating Israeli restrictions and constant harassment by the Israeli navy.

The event was funded by the European Union, whose acting representative in Jerusalem al-Quds attended the venue and talked about the plight of Palestinian fishermen in Gaza.

In February, Israeli soldiers shot Palestinian fisherman Khader Saiedi in the face and confiscated his boat.  

According to human rights organizations, the Israeli navy’s continuous harassment of Gaza fishermen has destroyed an industry that once supported thousands of people living in this poverty-stricken coastal enclave.

Israeli attacks on Gaza fishermen sometimes cost them their lives and has made most of them poor.   Gaza’s fishing sector has been declining in the last decade due to the Israeli siege and the tight restrictions on their fishing areas.