Control of the territorial waters

From B'tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.

"While there is no fence along Gaza 's coastline, residents do not have open access to the sea. Palestinians wanting to go to sea need to request a permit from Israel . Those who obtain a permit are not allowed to sail far from shore. Anyone who violates the prohibition puts his life at risk: in the past, Israeli patrol boats have fired at boats that exceeded the maximum distance allowed. Israel 's Navy patrols the waters and thwarts attempts to enter or leave Gaza by sea.

In the Interim Agreement, signed by Israel and the PLO as part of the Oslo peace process, Israel undertook to allow fishing boats from Gaza to go some twenty nautical miles (about thirty-seven kilometers) from the coastline (except for a few areas, to which they were prohibited entry). However, Israel did not in fact issue permits to all applicants, and allowed fishing up to a distance of no more than ten nautical miles. Following implementation of the disengagement plan, Israel reduced the fishing area even more, and since the abduction of Cpl. Shalit, on 25 June 2006, fishermen have not been allowed to go further than three nautical miles from shore. As a result, the fishing sector in Gaza , which provides a livelihood to many Gazan families and is an important source of food for Gazans, suffered a harsh blow.

In the agreements signed by the parties since the beginning of the Oslo peace process, the sides repeatedly agreed to work toward building and operating a seaport in Gaza . In the summer of 2000, infrastructure work began to build the port, but in October of that year Israel bombed the construction site in response to the killing of two soldiers in Ramallah by Palestinians. As a result, the donor states ceased funding the project, and no work has been done on the seaport since then. In the AMA , of November 2005, Israel agreed to allow construction of the port. Moreover, in order to assure that foreign donors and investors would not be deterred from investing in the project, Israel undertook to guarantee that it would not again interfere with the operation of the port and to cooperate in establishing the security and other relevant arrangements which would need to be made prior to the opening of the port. To date, no action has been taken in this matter. "