A Palestinian Authority medic in Gaza reported that Israel Navy fire killed one man and wounded a second off the coast of Gaza Thursday afternoon following a mortar attack from Gaza on the western Negev earlier in the day.
The IDF Spokesman had no immediate comment on the report.
According to the source, 25-year-old Muhammed Attar was hit by shrapnel from a mortar shell fired at what appeared to be a Gaza fishing vessel. The Agence France Presse (AFP) news service quoted Muawiha Hassanein, head of the Gaza emergency medical service, as saying Attar had been in his boat just off the northern Gaza shore when he was hit.
Terrorists are often disguised as "fishermen" and use fishing vessels to pick up weapons, ammunition and other materiel deliveries that are dropped off in waterproof containers in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Gaza.
Israeli navy vessels patrol the waters along the coast in order to prevent smugglers from bringing terrorists, weapons, cash and other items into the region.