Gazans suffer from a lack of fish from Israel's sea blockade

Gazans suffer from a lack of fish from Israel's sea blockade

The high -rise buildings that surround three sides of Gaza form a fatal wall. On the fourth side, the sea extends to the horizon. For a long time, the waters and the fish have fed the people in Gaza who are isolated from the rest of the world.

The ocean challenge for the people in Gaza

Today, the beaches offer little protection for the displaced persons, while the fishermen who once fished the coasts are now banished from the Mediterranean. This deprives humans an urgently needed food source. At the beginning of this month, the Israeli defense forces (IDF) again issued a security command that prohibited the Gazans to swim from the shore.

Hope for a bite: Fischer as survival artist

Although Israeli armed forces patrol and operate with a fatal weapon, only the desperate dared the waves to fish for the next day. "We have no other food source except this," said Fischer Ziyad Abu Amira. "If I don't do anything for my children today, I die." He continued: "I will not run behind (auxiliary) trucks, this is my way."

Even small fish residues have become a survival for some. The seven -year -old Fayza has a weak voice while offering the crumbs that she has collected from fishing nets. "I'm waiting for the fishermen to come out of the sea and give myself something; I come every day, take a little and go back," she said.

The dangers of the lake

People in Gaza risk their lives when they go into the water because Israeli boats and planes are a constant threat while the humanitarian crisis penetrates new depths. Even before 2023, fishermen risked, killed, shot or arrested if they move too far from the coast.

fishing in crisis mode

Since the war between Israel and Hamas, which began more than 21 months ago, most fishing boats were destroyed, and Palestinians, which fishing only meters from the shore, have been targeted. According to the UN Organization for Food and Agriculture (FAO), the fishermen in Gaza had a year before the attacks on October 7th. Today, after the almost complete destruction of the Gazan fishing fleet and the fish breeding infrastructure, this yield is only 60 tons.

The UN has found that the fishing industry in Gaza now only works with 7.3 % of its production before the war.

international attention to the situation in Gaza

The Mediterranean was also the scene of some of the most remarkable international efforts to stand up for the citizens of Gaza. In 2010, a convoy with relief goods from Turkey tried to break through the blockade was attacked by Israeli commands, which triggered global criticism.

The waters offer little consolation for Gaza. "Everyone is afraid when they go into the sea," said Ismail Al Amoudi, 16, who comes from a fishing family. "We see death before our eyes."