Life along Gaza’s shore has become a battlefield, where fishing, a lifeline for thousands, now carries the risk of arrest, gunfire, or death. In recent days, Israeli naval forces detained several fishermen off the coast and blew up their boats, depriving their families of both income and food. Those taken include members of the Nassar and al-Qura’an families, men who had ventured only a short distance from the shore in the hope of bringing home a meagre catch.

The assault comes amid escalating violence at sea. Just last month, 51-year-old Hassan al-Habeel was killed by Israeli fire while working off the coast west of Gaza City. His death added to a growing toll of nearly 210 fishermen shot dead since October 2023. Despite the danger, fishermen continue to risk their lives, knowing that their families’ survival depends on every net they cast.

For Gaza’s 5,000 fishermen, the sea once symbolised freedom and sustenance. Today it has become another place of siege, where livelihoods are torched along with boats and hunger is deepened with every act of violence. Families who relied on the sea now face destitution, trapped between the blockade on land and the dangers at sea.