The Israeli military intercepted the last boat in an aid flotilla attempting to reach blockaded Gaza yesterday, a day after stopping most of the vessels and detaining some 450 activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said the Marinette was intercepted some 79km from Gaza. Israeli army radio said the navy had taken control of the last ship in the flotilla, detained those aboard and that the vessel was being led to Ashdod port in Israel.
In a statement, the Global Sumud Flotilla said Israeli naval forces had now ‘illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels – each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza”.
However, in another attempt to challenge Israel’s naval blockade, a new flotilla comprising 11 vessels was attempting to make its way to Gaza yesterday, organisers said, including a vessel carrying medics and journalists.
A live-tracker shared by the organisers showed the boats sailing southeast in the Mediterranean between the Greek island of Crete and Egypt, while live footage from one of the boats showed activists chanting for a ‘Free Palestine’.
A camera broadcasting from the Marinette showed someone holding up a note saying ‘We see a ship! It’s a war ship’, before a boat is seen approaching and soldiers boarding. A voice is heard telling the people on board not to move and to put their hands in the air.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the boat’s status.
Israeli officials have repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt. The foreign ministry had said the flotilla was previously warned that it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a ‘lawful naval blockade’, and asked organisers to change course. It had offered to transfer aid to Gaza. The Israeli foreign ministry yesterday said that four Italians had been deported. “The rest are in the process of being deported. Israel is keen to end this procedure as quickly as possible,” it said in a statement. All the flotilla participants were ‘safe and in good health;’, it added.
The Italian government identified the four Italians as parliamentarians who would fly back to Rome yesterday.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets in cities across Europe as well as in Karachi, Buenos Aires and Mexico City on Thursday to protest the flotilla’s interception. Yesterday, tens of thousands of Italians demonstrated, as part of a day-long general strike called by unions in support of the flotilla.
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