GAZA CITY (Ma'an) – Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian officials
representing the Hamas-run government in Gaza will meet next Monday in
Cairo to discuss the aftermath of the ceasefire agreement.
The
Office of Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he was informed by the
director of Egyptian intelligence that Israel agreed to allow Gaza
fishermen to go six nautical miles off the coast of Gaza instead of
three, which has been the limit under Israel's siege.
"Israel
has allowed Palestinian fishermen to fish in Gaza's waters at a distance
of six miles, up from three miles," Haniyeh's office said.
Israel had no immediate comment.
Murad
al-Issi, a member of a local fishermens' group, told Reuters his
colleagues had already ventured out to the six-mile limit on Saturday,
undisturbed by Israel.
"The Israeli army naval boat which used to
fire and torch Palestinian boats that sailed beyond a three-mile
distance watched without doing anything to prevent them," Issi said.
Palestinians say the Israeli restrictions had hampered the amount and variety of fish they could catch.
"This is a good step," Issi said, adding it would be best to be permitted double the distance.
In
another apparent Israeli step to ease restrictions, Palestinian farmers
tended land along the frontier with Israel without incident, a day
after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian man at a border fence.
Gaza
security officials were on patrol and Israeli soldiers looked on
without interfering, but for a brief verbal exchange between one soldier
and a Hamas guard, witnesses said.
Palestinians denounced Friday's shooting as a violation of the ceasefire and Egypt intervened to restore calm.
Haniyeh's office said in a statement that the border zone would also be addressed in Monday's meeting, among other things.
Israeli
and Palestinian negotiators agreed on a 20-nautical-mile fishing zone
off Gaza's coast under the Oslo Accords, but Israel unilaterally imposes
a 3-mile limit.
Israeli warships frequently open fire at boats that allegedly stray from the permitted area.
Israel
has controlled Gaza waters since its occupation of the area in 1967,
and has kept several warships stationed off the coast since 2008.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Ma'anNews
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Israel's Violence on Palestenians
Right to Defend itself
Israel has always cried 'holocaust' tears to the world while singing the old tune of "Defending itself and its citizens".
How do they do it? By banning or killing international journalists by bribing their supportive governments.
Palestine is destroyed as a State so is Gaza. Meanwhile the "chronically suffering Israel" has developed to a point it does not need Uncle Sam anymore, see their infrastructure, see their military development up to nuclear programs... and they are the eternal "poor" in need.
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