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

Facing starvation, Palestinians turn to the sea to feed their families, risking imprisonment or death, reporting by Maha Hussaini in Gaza City and Mohammed al-Hajjar in Nuseirat.

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.”

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