An Israel Air Force plane early today prevented the Egyptian Coast Guard from capturing an Israeli fishing boat which had already been manned by the Egyptians and was in tow toward Egypt.
The ship is the fishing trawler Nitzan. Early this morning, the Nitzan was fishing in international waters in the Mediterranean, about eight miles east of Egypt-occupied Gaza, when an armed Egyptian Coast Guard cutter ordered the ship to halt. Egyptian soldiers from the cutter boarded the Nitzan, and tied a hawser between the Nitzan and the cutter. The Egyptian boat then started to tow the Nitzan toward Egypt. The Nitzan crew, unarmed, could not resist.
Just before the Nitzan had been towed into Egyptian territorial waters, however, an Israel Air Force plane appeared overhead, and started to circle the Egyptian cutter. The crew of the latter immediately cut the line to the Nitzan, and headed back toward its own territory. The Nitzan then sailed for home, unmolested.
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