Witnesses: Israeli navy abused, abducted two fishermen along Gaza Strip coast

 Israeli naval troops abused and arrested Tuesday two Palestinian fisherman off the northern coast of the Gaza Strip, eyewitnesses said. No apparent reason for the abduction was offered.

The Israeli naval ship apprehended a small fishing boat boarded by a group of Palestinians. The detainees were verbally abused and forced to remove their clothing and swim towards an Israeli cruiser.

The cruiser ship fired at the victims while at sea and later transported them to unknown destination without report of injury.

Israeli attacks against fisherman along the Gaza Strip coast have skyrocketed in recent months. A sharp increase in abuse of aggregate workers along Gaza’s eastern border has also been reported.

In a separate development, Israeli forces carried out small scale incursions Tuesday along two axes in the eastern Gaza Strip. Locals sighted army tanks and bulldozers at the sites.

Heavy gunfire was heard amid ploughing of farmlands, but no injuries were reported.

Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza are saying they are prepared and have mastered tactics to counter future Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip.

“Resistance fighters are fully ready and on constant alert,” said Abu Ghassan, media spokesman for the Jihad Jibril Brigade, the armed wing of the Popular Font to Liberate Palestine.

“It is our  people’s right that we protect them from any aggression. The resistance protects the people, and the people protect the resistance. We will not let the Zionist enemy target our people, and bomb, destroy, and assassinate,” Abu Ghassan went on to say.

“Any [Israeli] aggression on Gaza will be answered properly and at the proper place. We will reach places the resistance movement has never reached before.”