IDF reduces Gaza fishing zone following rocket launch by PIJ

According to IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad was behind the rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip that went into the sea.

The IDF will reduce the fishing zone around the Gaza Strip to six miles on Tuesday following the launch of a missile on Monday night, the military announced.

According to IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis, Palestinian Islamic Jihad was behind the rocket fire from the northern Gaza Strip that went into the sea.

“It was intentionally fired by the group,” Manelis said, adding that the PIJ operative behind the launch was Baha’a Abu Ata, the PIJ commander of the northern Strip.

Israel expanded the allowed fishing zone for Gazans to a range of between 22 km. to 28 km. after it was completely closed last month as the result of a long-range rocket fired by Gazan terrorists, which destroyed a family home in central Israel, wounding eight civilians.

A tense calm has been holding in the South, with reports of a ceasefire deal mediated by Egypt in the works.

According to reports, part of the deal was the expansion of the fishing zone which, according to Yediot Aharonot, is a range not seen since the Second Intifada.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the second largest group in the Gaza Strip after Hamas, has been assessed by military intelligence as a factor increasing the risk of an escalation in the blockaded coastal enclave, since it is not under the direct control of Hamas and acts independently for its own interests.

PIJ is responsible for several violent attacks on IDF troops during the marches that have been ongoing throughout the past year, including for the first death of a soldier along the Gaza border since Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Staff Sgt. Aviv Levi was killed after he was shot in the chest by sniper fire near Kibbutz Kissufim.

Another soldier was struck by sniper fire in the area less than a week after Levi was killed. In late January, an IDF officer was lightly wounded in the same area after his helmet was struck by sniper fire along the Gaza Strip security fence, in an attack for which PIJ claimed responsibility.

The IDF has warned that both Hamas and PIJ have restored their military capabilities to their pre-2014 strength, and expect that in the next war the southern communities bordering the Strip would be incessantly pounded with rockets and mortar attacks.