‘Treated as criminals’: Gaza fishermen risk everything at sea

Even after Israeli bombardments destroyed his fishing boat and equipment, Ismail Farhat returned to the sea. Fishing was not a choice for him; it was how he kept his family fed.

On the morning of 8 October, he set out from the shore of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza on a small punt he had built himself. Shortly after, an Israeli naval vessel approached and ordered him to “surrender”.

Farhat was then detained, tortured, and threatened with arrest if he returned to fishing, before being released more than two months later, on Tuesday.

“I was fishing with another fisherman when we were suddenly approached by an Israeli naval vessel. They ordered us to remove our clothes, jump into the sea, and swim towards their vessel,” Farhat told Middle East Eye one day after his release.

“Once we were on board, they began interrogating us, asking where we lived, where we had been before we were displaced, and requesting personal details such as our ID numbers, age and mobile phone numbers. One of the soldiers photographed me with his phone.”

Another vessel then approached, and Farhat was transferred to it, where he was subjected to a second interrogation.

After the interrogation ended, Farhat and the other fisherman were released and instructed to head back toward the shore.

Approximately two minutes later, the naval vessel returned and stopped them again.

“One of the soldiers called me by name and ordered me to jump into the water and swim towards him, while telling the fisherman who was with me to return to shore. They then arrested me, blindfolded me, and handcuffed me,” Farhat said.

“They began insulting and beating me. As usual, they accused every fisherman of being affiliated with Hamas. They told me I was Hamas and pretending to be a fisherman. Every time I raised my head or spoke a word, they beat me and insulted me with obscene language.”

At that moment, Farhat realised he was about to be detained.

He considered himself lucky, however, that he was not shot dead like many of his fellow fishermen.

Detention, torture

Since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza on 7 October 2023, the Israeli military has killed at least 230 Palestinian fishermen, according to the Palestinian Fishermen Syndicate.

Farhat was taken to a port he could not identify, before being transferred to Sde Teiman, a notorious Israeli detention facility where Palestinian detainees are subjected to severe torture.

“Throughout this entire period, I was wearing only shorts, without anything else, and the weather was extremely cold. But I wasn’t allowed to say a word,” he added.

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“When I arrived at Sde Teiman, they forced me to take off the shorts, searched me, and gave me prisoner clothing. There were around 150 Palestinian detainees in the prison with me, including fishermen and truck drivers, some of whom transported aid or goods.”

For the first 50 days of his detention, Farhat was kept in handcuffs at all times.

“You live 24 hours a day with your hands cuffed. We were forbidden from speaking, forbidden from leaning to either side, and forbidden from sleeping. We were not allowed a mattress. I slept on an iron mesh,” he added.

“Sometimes, due to extreme exhaustion, I would fall asleep or lean unintentionally, and they would immediately punish me, forcing me to stand for two or three hours.”

Over more than two months in custody, Farhat said he and his fellow fishermen were “treated as criminals”, despite never being formally charged.

During this period, he encountered numerous fellow fishermen held in the same facility. Many had been detained for fishing amid Israel’s imposed starvation of the Strip since March.

“On some nights, a unit they called the 'commando' would enter the prison and throw stun and smoke grenades on the prisoners. Most of the time, they forced us to remain kneeling,” Farhat said.

“When we became ill or suffered pain, we would ask for a painkiller, but they would completely refuse, leaving us for days without any medication. On rare occasions, they would photograph us and put us through lengthy procedures just to give us a single dose of painkillers.”

Ruined livelihoods

New fishermen were brought into the prison every couple of days during his imprisonment, according to Farhat.

The youngest among them were two children aged 16, and the oldest was around 56. None of them have been released to this day.

“Before my detention, we were constantly subjected to harassment and attacks by the Israeli occupation, but the harsh living conditions, especially during the war, forced us to return to the sea each time,” he said.

“We risked our lives simply to provide food for our families. We know that this profession usually leads to detention, injury, or death.”

Farhat was released on 16 December, as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian factions.

The Israeli army has destroyed more than 95 percent of Gaza’s fishing sector, according to Zakaria Bakr, head of the Fishermen Union Committees in Gaza.

This included the killing of fishermen, the destruction of fishing equipment such as boats, and vital infrastructure on which they depended, including storage facilities, the ice factory, Gaza Port, and the fish market.

“Since the start of the war and to this day, the permitted fishing area has been reduced to zero. A complete naval closure has been imposed from the first day, including after the ceasefire,” Bakr told MEE.

Under the 1993 Oslo Accords, Palestinian fishermen were theoretically permitted to access up to 20 nautical miles off Gaza’s coast.

In practice, this has never been implemented.

A forced return to the sea

Over the past three decades, Israel has repeatedly reduced the permitted fishing zone, restricting it at various times to between three and 12 nautical miles before the war.

“During the war, the Israeli navy’s primary response was shooting and killing. As a result, 65 fishermen were killed while actively working at sea,” Bakr added.

'You live 24 hours a day with your hands cuffed. We were forbidden from speaking, forbidden from leaning to either side and from sleeping'

- Ismail Farhat, fisherman

“After the ceasefire, Israeli forces increasingly resorted to arrests and the destruction of boats. At least 28 fishermen were arrested after the ceasefire, while only one has been released.”

Gaza’s fishermen are among the poorest in society. Even before the war, at least 90 percent lived below the poverty line.

“Under these conditions, they are forced to go to sea and risk their lives to secure food for themselves and their communities,” Bakr said.

According to the Fishermen Syndicate, around 4,500 fishermen were officially registered before October 2023, with an additional 2,000 working under temporary permits and 1,500 linked to the fishing sector.

Today, only 400–500 people remain connected to fishing activities.

“They now work using makeshift platforms that were once used for leisure, reconstructed from destroyed boats, and sometimes even from refrigerator doors. Fishing nets are often retrieved from beneath the rubble,” Bakr said.

“Total fish production does not currently exceed two percent of pre-war levels. Today, all fishermen operating from Gaza Port catch only 16 kilograms of fish collectively. Before the war, daily catches sometimes reached up to 15 tonnes.

“No one is allowed to enter the sea, this is collective punishment.”