Gaza aid flotilla: more than a dozen vessels intercepted by Israeli forces; Greta Thunberg arrested – live | Middle East and north Africa
Flotilla organisers say it ‘will continue undeterred’ despite Israeli interceptions
A total of 13 boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla have been intercepted or stopped as of early Thursday, according to its ship tracking data, but organisers have remained defiant, saying in a statement the flotilla “will continue undeterred”.
The Gaza-bound aid flotilla said on Telegram on Thursday that 30 boats were still sailing towards Gaza and that they were 46 nautical miles away from their destination.
The updates came after Israeli forces boarded several flotilla boats carrying activists and aid and took them to an Israeli port on Wednesday, disrupting a protest that has become one of the most high-profile symbols of opposition to Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.
Key events
More from Australia here: the mother of another Australian onboard the flotilla will not forgive its government “if” her daughter dies at the hands of the Israeli military, she says.
Dr Bianca Webb-Pullman is one of six Australians aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces off the Gaza coast. Her vessel has reportedly been rammed by Israeli forces, Australian Associated Press is reporting.
Webb-Pullman is still en route to Gaza but as the danger rises she has sent one last message to her mother before throwing her phone overboard.
“Even if I die, don’t worry, it was still 100% worth it,” she told her mum.
Her mother Julie Webb-Pullman has continued to receive updates from the flotilla‘s family liaison but said the Australian government’s response had been “reprehensible”.
“No parent wants to see their child die,” she said.
If she has to die because this government is not doing what it should be doing, then that’s an indictment of the government and I will not forgive them.
Krishani Dhanji
The Global Sumud Flotilla says Australian Abubakir Rafiq has been “abducted” after the boat he was on – Spectre – was intercepted and boarded.
Guardian Australia hasn’t separately verified Rafiq being taken, and has contacted Australia’s department of foreign affairs and trade.
Rafiq is one of six Australians who joined the flotilla of more than 40 boats. The latest information we have is that there are about 30 boats that are still on course heading towards Gaza to open up a humanitarian corridor and provide aid.
Yesterday Guardian Australia spoke to two other Australians on board – Juliet Lamont and Surya McEwen.
McEwen, who has been on multiple flotillas, said his resolve had been “magnified” as the situation continued to worsen.
“The opportunity to bring food to starving children and to bring medicine to people who aren’t being allowed to have medicine is like part of the duty of the human spirit. [It’s] the test of our generation,” he said.
In decades to come, it’ll be the question like: what did you do during this moment? Or what would you have done?
We represent billions of people across the world, and there’s people on the ground who are doing the same work … We will create peace and justice and equality, finally, for people in Palestine.
Carmela Fonbuena
Malaysian prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has joined protests against Israel’s interception of the Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla including at least eight Malaysians.
“I condemn in the strongest terms Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla. These vessels carried unarmed civilians and life-saving humanitarian supplies for Gaza, yet they were met with intimidation and coercion,” Anwar said in a statement on Thursday.
The Malaysian volunteers to the flotilla’s mission include singer Zizi Kirana, who released a video to report their arrest by Israeli forces.
Anwar said he would use “all legitimate and lawful means” to hold Israel accountable over the detention of the Malaysians.
In the Philippines, Drieza Lininding from Marawi City said he cried when he watched online how Israeli forces boarded the ships.
He told the Guardian:
This is very disheartening – that a peaceful humanitarian aid for Gaza was not allowed. What’s even more painful is that the world is just watching. We are allowing Israel to carry out this aggressive action.
Lininding was supposed to join the flotilla along with two other Filipinos but they were unable to secure visas. He was only able to join the participants at the sendoff in Malaysia.
Flotilla organisers say it ‘will continue undeterred’ despite Israeli interceptions
A total of 13 boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla have been intercepted or stopped as of early Thursday, according to its ship tracking data, but organisers have remained defiant, saying in a statement the flotilla “will continue undeterred”.
The Gaza-bound aid flotilla said on Telegram on Thursday that 30 boats were still sailing towards Gaza and that they were 46 nautical miles away from their destination.
The updates came after Israeli forces boarded several flotilla boats carrying activists and aid and took them to an Israeli port on Wednesday, disrupting a protest that has become one of the most high-profile symbols of opposition to Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.
Summary
In case you’re just joining us, here’s a recap of the evening’s events as Israeli forces intercepted a high-profile flotilla of Gaza-bound aid in the Mediterranean Sea.
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Israeli forces boarded several boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla and took activists onboard to an Israeli port on Wednesday, disrupting the protest against Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.
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Greta Thunberg was seen sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers in a video from the Israeli foreign ministry verified by Reuters. The Swedish climate campaigner is the most prominent of the pro-Palestinian flotilla’s passengers.
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Israel’s foreign ministry posted on X: “Several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port. Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.”
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The flotilla – transporting medicine and food to Gaza – consists of more than 40 civilian boats with about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists. The boats were about 70 nautical miles off Gaza when intercepted.
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The flotilla put out videos on Telegram with messages from individuals aboard, some holding their passports and saying they had been abducted and taken to Israel against their will, and reiterating their mission was a non-violent humanitarian cause.
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The flotilla’s organisers denounced what it called Israel’s “illegal” raid as a “war crime”, saying the military used aggressive tactics, including water cannon, but that no one was harmed. The organisers said their communications had been scrambled, including the use of a live camera feed from some of the boats.
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Israel repeatedly warned the flotilla to turn back, saying it was approaching an active combat zone, violating a lawful blockade. It offered to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.
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The flotilla said on Telegram that its vessels Spectre, Alma and Sirius – along with other boats in international waters – had been boarded by Israeli forces, and that the status of those onboard was unconfirmed.
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Turkey’s foreign ministry said the Israeli “attack” on the flotilla was “an act of terror” that endangered the lives of innocent civilians. Spontaneous protests broke out across Italy in response to the raid.
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Turkey said steps had begun for Israel to release Turks and others onboard, while Spain called on Israel to protect the safety and rights of activists and Ireland said the flotilla was “a peaceful mission to shine a light on a horrific humanitarian catastrophe”.
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A total of 13 boats had been intercepted or stopped as of early Thursday, according to the flotilla’s ship tracking data. Organisers have remained defiant, saying in a statement the flotilla “will continue undeterred”.
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Thirty boats were still sailing towards Gaza, the flotilla said on Telegram early on Thursday, adding they were 46 nautical miles away from their destination.
With agencies
Footage captured by a British journalist travelling with the Gaza-bound aid flotilla captured the moment activists say the Adara vessel was intercepted by Israeli forces.
In the footage – which we’ve just published – a voice onboard the vessel can be heard saying water is being fired at it, a bright light is being shined and the Adara is being circled by a “large vehicle”.
It also says things are being shouted in Hebrew, soldiers can be seen and “they’re instructing us, saying that if we follow their rules, nothing will happen to us”.
The voice then says for everyone to put their hands up.
You can watch the footage here:
Italy’s foreign minister has said he still doesn’t know the whereabouts of two Italian parliamentarians reportedly aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Antonio Tajani, who is also deputy prime minister, was quoted by Italy’s Rai News as saying it also wasn’t yet known if they had been taken off the flotilla and on to Israeli vessels.
Tajani said on Rai1’s Porta e Porta program:
The foreign ministry’s crisis unit has been following the flotilla every day, day after day. We’ve always spoken with the spokespeople, not with the parliamentarians, who work on their own.
We still don’t know where they are, we don’t know if they’ve already disembarked from the Flotilla ships to board Israeli vessels.
We’ll know everything by late morning.
Krishani Dhanji
Australian filmmaker Juliet Lamont – onboard the flotilla to Gaza – says the group is about 50 nautical miles from the shores of the territory.
On social media, Lamont described a military boat coming up close to the boat she’s on, Wahoo, which she says tried to manoeuvre them towards Egypt. Wahoo managed to “out manoeuvre” the military boat, she said.
In a following video, Lamont says there are still around 30 boats in the flotilla on course to Gaza, with about 30 military vessels surrounding and kettling the flotilla.
A lot of our comrades on the flotilla have been intercepted and boarded by zodiacs [boats], we’re still in formation … We’re feeling really positive, we’re feeling really steadfast in our resolve to get the much needed aid there, [and] that we are on the right side of history.
We are feeling like we’re going to get there, when the sun rises we will be with the people of Gaza.
There are six Australians in the flotilla, across several boats.
Australia department of foreign affairs and trade said it was “aware” the flotilla had been intercepted and was “concerned about the safety of those onboard”.
Its statement said:
Our officials are liaising with Israeli authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance to any affected Australians.
Eva Corlett
Three New Zealand citizens travelling aboard the Gaza aid flotilla say they have been detained by Israel’s military forces.
In posts to social media on Wednesday, Samuel Leason, Rana Hamida and Youssef Sammour said they had been taken by Israeli forces.
“If you are watching this video, I have been kidnapped by the IOF [Israeli occupation forces] and taken to Israel against my will,” Leason said in his post. “Tell my government to end this complicity with Israel, and to bring me home.”
New Zealand’s ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement it was aware the Israeli navy had begun to intercept the flotilla.
Its embassy in Ankara was in contact with Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs and had set out its expectations for the provision of consular services to the New Zealanders onboard the flotilla, a spokesperson said.
The safety of New Zealanders is paramount. We expect any New Zealanders in the flotilla to be treated in a manner consistent with international law and have communicated this directly to Israel several times.
The ministry said New Zealand had a long-standing “do not travel” advisory in place for Gaza and warned citizens against attempts to enter Gaza by sea in breach of Israeli navy restrictions.
Israeli interception a ‘flagrant violation’ of law, says French MEP aboard flotilla
Rima Hassan, a Franco-Palestinian member of the European parliament onboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, has issued a statement saying the Israel interception constitutes a “serious and flagrant violation of international law”.
The arrest of crew members and seizure of the flotilla’s Gaza-bound aid was “a further humiliation of the international community by Israel”, the statement said.
We express our deepest indignation following the illegal interception today by the Israeli authorities.
Onboard the flotilla were “hundreds of humanitarians and peace activists engaged in a strictly legal and non-violent mission”, it said.
The statement from Hassan called on the European Union, the UN and the international community to condemn the interception and detentions, demand the release of all crew members and “pressure the Israeli authorities to allow unhindered passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza, in accordance with international law”.
It is the duty of all nations committed to human rights not to remain silent in the face of these flagrant violations of international law committed by Israel.
Here are some of the latest pictures coming in from Italy as a wave of spontaneous protests erupted after Israeli navy forces intercepted the aid flotilla in the Mediterranean.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza and had hoped to arrive in Gaza on Thursday morning if it was not intercepted.
The Israeli raid marked the second time the flotilla was approached on Wednesday. Before dawn, two Israeli “warships” had encircled two of the flotilla’s boats and scrambled its communications, Reuters quoted the mission’s organisers as saying.
Last week the flotilla was attacked by drones, which dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels, causing damage but no injuries. Israel did not comment on that attack but has said it will use any means to prevent the boats from reaching Gaza, arguing its naval blockade is legal as it battles Hamas in the territory.
Italy and Spain deployed naval ships to help with any rescue or humanitarian needs but stopped following the flotilla once it got within 150 nautical miles (278 km) of Gaza for safety reasons. Turkish drones have also followed the boats.
An Irish senator is among the people detained by Israel from the Global Sumud Flotilla, Sinn Fein said.
The party said Chris Andrews had been onboard a boat called the Spectre, which was intercepted by Israeli forces off the coast of Egypt, PA Media reported.
Irish foreign minister Simon Harris earlier expressed concern at reports around the flotilla, saying on X that he was “keeping in close contact with my officials who are working on the ground and have also spoken with EU counterparts” on the flotilla.
Harris’s post said:
Tonight’s reports are very concerning. This is a peaceful mission to shine a light on a horrific humanitarian catastrophe.
Ireland expects international law to be upheld and all those on board the flotilla to be treated in strict accordance with it.
Sinn Fein said in a statement that Andrews – speaking earlier – emphasised the flotilla was a “purely humanitarian and non-violent mission carrying food and aid to a starving population”.
“The Irish government and the Department of Foreign Affairs urgently need to act to ensure that my fellow Irish participants and I are not mistreated while in Israeli captivity,” Andrews said.
The Spanish government has said it is closely monitoring the situation around the Global Sumud Flotilla and that Spain “demands that the physical integrity and rights of Spanish citizens be respected”.
A statement from the Spanish foreign ministry also said a permanent monitoring unit has been created and that foreign minister José Manuel Albares was “in contact and coordination with his counterparts in countries with nationals on the flotilla”.
Contact is also ongoing with the Israeli authorities and the European Union delegation in Tel Aviv to ensure diplomatic and consular protection.
The statement said the flotilla was “a peaceful and humanitarian civil society initiative” and that the Spanish foreign ministry was “fully mobilised to provide all diplomatic and consular protection to our citizens”.
A former high-ranking UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office official said in a post on X that Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla is “plainly illegal.”
Craig Murray, who served as the British ambassador to Uzbekistan from 2002 to 2004, said that Israel did not have proper jurisdiction to intercept and detain members of the flotilla.
Murray also provides further legal analysis, claiming that Israel’s actions are considered to be a genocide of the Palestinian people, and that Israel’s blockade “is plainly a part of the machinery of such genocide.”
Murray also says that, due to the vessels being on international waters, Israel directly attacked the nations that had deployed the boats. “The Metropolitan Police and DPP have an obligation to investigate and act over the abduction of persons from UK flagged vessels on the High Seas,” Murray writes.
Colombia says all Israeli diplomats to leave the country
Colombian president Gustavo Petro has announced all Israeli diplomats in Colombia will be leaving the country, in response to Israel’s interception and detention of activists participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla.
Petro, who has fervently opposed Israel’s war on Gaza, said two Colombian nationals participating in the flotilla were detained by Israel.
“If the information is true, this is a new international crime by Netanyahu,” Petro wrote on X. “The foreign ministry should make all the respective demands, including within the Israeli justice system. I invite international attorneys to support Colombia alongside our attorneys.”
“The entire diplomatic delegation from Israel is leaving Colombia,” he added.
Petro has been a consistent voice on the international stage opposing the Israeli war on Gaza. He previously severed diplomatic relations with Israel. Colombia is also one of the leading nations organizing the Hague Group – an international consortium of countries calling for an end to Israel’s war.
Last week, at the United Nations General Assembly, Petro spoke out in opposition to Israel. Later, he gave two speeches in New York, during which he called for the formation of an international army to oppose Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
In response to Petro’s comments in New York, the US State Department announced it would be revoking his visa.
