Palestinians say Egyptian fire kills Gaza fisherman; Cairo denies it
Citing security concerns, Egypt and Israel enforce a naval blockade on the Palestinian coastal enclave, which is controlled by the Hamas Islamist group. Israel currently allows Gaza fishing boats to venture up to nine nautical miles offshore.
Egypt has been trying to craft a long-term ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and is also trying to calm months of protests on the Gaza-Israel border in which over 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire.
During unrest at the border fence in July, an Israeli soldier was also killed by a Palestinian sniper in a cross-border shooting.
Cairo has also been trying to negotiate a reconciliation agreement between Hamas and the rival Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which holds sway in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Wednesday's incident took place off the coast after dark near the southern border town of Rafah, said Gaza's interior ministry, which is run by officials loyal to Hamas.
"Egyptian naval vessels fired towards a Palestinian fishing boat near the southern sea border of Gaza Strip which led to the death of Mustafa Abu Odah, 30," the ministry statement said.
In Cairo, an Egyptian military source denied the report, without elaborating.
There was no initial information whether the fishing boat had crossed into Egyptian waters. Egypt's navy has in the past shot at Gazans whom it has accused of crossing the maritime border. (Reporting by Nidal Almughrabi; editing by Andrew Roche)
(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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