Agriculture ministry condemns Egyptian arrest of Palestinian fishermen.

The Palestinian agriculture ministry has expressed dismay at the Egyptian detention of four Palestinian fishermen in which it described as a “serious precedent”.

The ministry in a press release on Saturday said that four fishermen were aboard two small finishing boats on Friday evening when they were kidnapped by the Egyptian authorities while fishing at sea south of the Gaza Strip.

It said that Palestinian fishermen are facing dangers in their sole source of sustenance.

The ministry regretted that the Palestinian fishermen are now being targeted by both the Israelis and Egyptians.

It urged the Egyptian authority to halt such persecution of Palestinian fisherman, and called on concerned Egyptian professional syndicates to denounce the practices and to intervene to stop them.