Feature: Israeli offensive deprives Gazans from fishery despite humanitarian ceasefire

GAZA (Xinhua) - In spite of the UN-sponsored 12-hour Humanitarian ceasefire between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Mo'taz, 30-year-old Gaza fisherman, was unable to go fishing for a living.

Several fishing boats parked on the white sands of Gaza city's beach, where Mo'taz stood near his small yacht watching the Israeli army naval battleships and gunboat in the middle of the water. He can do nothing but sighed.

"I haven't been able to catch fish for more than 19 days. Before that I used to do so almost every day," said Mo'taz, adding "The Israeli army informed 4,000 fishermen from the Gaza Strip that they are not allowed to fish in the sea until a further notice."

On Saturday , the UN mediated a humanitarian ceasefire for half day in a bid to enable medical teams to pull out corps and survivors from under the rubbles of houses flattened by Israeli war jet missiles and tank shells over the past two weeks.

"I have no other jobs or careers, except fishing. I'm 30 years old and I have been a fisherman since I was a kid," said Mo'taz, adding that "I really missed the sea and missed catching fish ... and I don't know for how much longer it will take to stop this war on us."

He said one of Gaza militants' demands is to expand the allowed area for fishing from three miles to 12.

"I feel myself like a fish, if it is taken out from water, it dies, and I hope these demands will be soon accepted. Gaza has no fish at all for almost three weeks."

"We really got tired of this war, and Each day there are more getting killed and wounded, mainly women and children and tens of houses were completely destroyed," he said.

According to the Oslo Accords Israel signed with the Palestinians in 1993, the allowed fishing area for the Palestinians was 21 miles, but when Hamas seized control of the coastal enclave in 2007, Israel imposed a tight blockade on the territory and limited the fishing area to three miles only.

During the Israel's Operation Protective Edge, Israeli battleships and gunboats have been guarding the shores of the Gaza Strip and fired intensive shells and bombs on the beach, where four children, who were playing on the white sands, were hit by three battleships bombs two weeks ago.

Ra'ed Bakker, another Palestinian fisherman, said that he was also out of job for three weeks. "Fishing is our only job, and we have no income," he said, adding "fishermen in Gaza suffer from bad economic situation and hard living condition."

He clarified that at the end of the last Gaza war in 2012, Israel agreed to expand the fishing area from three miles to six miles, adding "but this wasn't implemented at all. Gunboats and battleships kept chasing fishermen's boats all the time, shooting at them and detaining some others."

There are 4,000 fishermen in the Gaza Strip, who own around 700 fishing boats.

Nizar Ayash, chairman of the fishermen association, said that during the past 19 days, because of Israel's attacks from the sea, dozens of fishing boats, made out of wood, were burned and destroyed.

"Even before the war on Gaza started, the fishermen have been subjected to dozens of assaults and actions carried out by the Israeli naval forces, and many times the Israeli army banned our fishermen from fishing and confiscated their fishing tools," said Ayash.

The large-scale Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip has so far killed 1,030 Palestinians and wounded more than 6,000, medics said on Saturday.

Ashraf al-Qedra, spokesman of the health ministry in Gaza told reporters that during the 12-hour humanitarian ceasefire, rescue teams and paramedics pulled out 130 corps from under the rubbles.