Israelis kill Palestinian fisherman in Gaza

The Israeli navy killed a Palestinian fisherman and wounded another in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian medical officials said on Saturday. The brothers had been near the coast off Beit Lahiya along with other fishermen when the Israeli navy opened fire on their boats, the Gaza fishing union said. "Fahmi Abu Rayash and his brother arrived wounded at Beit Lahiya hospital late on Friday morning. Fahmi, who suffered a gun shot wound to the leg, lost a lot of blood and died before midnight," medical officials told AFP. An Israeli army spokesman said their soldiers had fired on two Palestinians who had entered a restricted zone near the security barrier separating Israel and the Gaza Strip in the Beit Lahiha sector. "The soldiers spotted these Palestinians, who continued to advance towards the barrier in a prohibited area despite warning shots. Then the soldiers opened fire on them," said the spokesman. He denied that the Palestinians had approached from the sea. Israel imposes a strict maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, restricting the access of Palestinian fishermen to three nautical miles (around 5.5 kilometres) of the Mediterranean Sea.