Islamic Jihad: No information about arresting member in Gaza Sea

The Islamic Jihad Movement said Wednesday that it had no information about the alleged Israeli claim that it had arrested one of its members accused of gathering information for a planned attack on an Israel warship in Gaza Sea.

“We do not have enough information about the alleged Israeli detention of a member of an Islamic Jihad cell that intended to target an Israeli warship in the Mediterranean,” spokesman for the Movement Dawoud Shihab told Quds Press.

“We are fighting a long and fierce battle with the occupation; we have the right to defend ourselves, our people, land and holy sites, and to take every path that enables us to liberate our prisoners from Israeli jails,” Shihab stated.

According to the website of Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, an Islamic Jihad member was indicted Wednesday morning for gathering intelligence for a planned attack on an Israeli Navy ship, with the aim of abducting Israeli soldiers.

The nine other suspects, also Palestinian fishermen, were questioned and released. Israeli troops did not find any weapons on the boat.

On March 12, an Israeli Navy vessel stopped a Palestinian fishing boat and arrested 10 people on board during routine operations off the Gaza coast after the boat was seen sailing outside the permitted fishing zone.

One of the suspects, Ameen Jamaa, a 24-year-old fisherman from Rafah, is claimed to be a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.