UPDATES WITH MINISTRY'S COMMENTS
By Hani al-Shaer and Nour Abu Aisha
GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Civil-defense teams in the southern Gaza Strip rescued six Egyptian fishermen whose boat was destroyed by unusually rough seas, according to a Palestinian security source.
The source, who spoke to Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity, said that Gazan civil-defense teams -- backed by Gazan naval police -- had managed to rescue the six fishermen although a seventh still remains unaccounted for.
According to the source, the fishermen’s boat was completely destroyed by exceptionally high winds and rough seas.
Following their hours-long ordeal, the rescued fishermen received treatment at Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
Gaza’s Interior Ministry later announced that the six had been handed over to the Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing linking Gaza to Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula.
According to the Hamas-run ministry, rescue efforts remain underway in hopes of finding the seventh fisherman.
Earlier this week, Egypt's official meteorological agency predicted “several days” of unusually high winds, which, it warned, could disrupt maritime navigation in the Mediterranean Sea.