The 430 members of a new “flotilla for Gaza”, which was intercepted by the Israeli navy off Cyprus the day before yesterday, are being transferred to Israel, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced Tuesday night into Wednesday.
“All 430 activists were transferred to Israeli boats and are being taken to Israel, where they will be given the opportunity to have contacts with consular representatives (of their countries),” the Foreign Ministry said.
On Monday morning the day before yesterday, the Global Sumud Flotilla (“global resilience flotilla”), consisting of some fifty boats, announced that Israeli armed forces had begun boarding the vessels.
“The Israeli occupation once again illegally and violently intercepted our international fleet of humanitarian boats and kidnapped our volunteers,” he said via X. He demanded “the swift release of the activists” and “the end of the blockade of the Gaza Strip.”
This is the third attempt in the last year to break the blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian enclave that has suffered immense destruction in the war and is suffering appalling shortages, despite a truce in the conflict that began in October 2023, triggered by an unprecedented attack by the Islamist movement Hamas against the southern part of Israeli territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed the interception of the flotilla he said was intended to deliver aid to “terrorists in Gaza”, saying he saw a “malicious” plot.
He praised his army for conducting the operation with “remarkable success”, urging his men to “continue to the end”
Earlier, the Israeli foreign ministry asserted that “no violation of the legal naval blockade imposed on Gaza” would be allowed.
For its part, the organizers expressed “outrage” at the “turning into a truism of violations of the international law of the sea and the kidnapping of peaceful civilians in international waters.”
The blockade of the Palestinian enclave by Israeli armed forces was originally imposed in 2007 and is in practice supported by Egypt.
