World Bulletin / News Desk 

A Palestinian fisherman was wounded on Monday morning after an Israeli boat opened fire off the Gaza coast.

Medical officials and fishermen in Gaza said that an Israel Navy vessel opened fire at fishermen boats near the northern Gaza Strip.

"Mahmoud Bakr was wounded when Israeli gunboats opened fire on a group of fishing boats off the northern Gaza Strip," Nizar Ayyash, head of Gaza's fishermen's union, told.

Israeli forces "shot at Palestinian fishing boats on the pretext that they had strayed outside the area officially allotted to them," he said.

Health Ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qodra said that Bakr had been hospitalized and was in moderate condition.

There has been no comment from the Israeli army regarding the report.

Nizar Ayyash, chairman of the Gaza fisherman association, said that the fisherman, 26-year-old Mohammed Bakr, was taken to a Gaza hospital for treatment.

No information was given on the type and extent of his injury, but it seems it was not life-threatening.

The Israeli navy routinely opens fire on Palestinian fishing boats on the pretext that they are fishing in unauthorized waters.

Last summer, Israel allowed Palestinian fishermen to ply their trade up to six nautical miles off the Gaza coast – as opposed to three miles previously.