
Türkiye Says Israeli Raid on Gaza Aid Boat Violated International Law
Türkiye on Monday condemned Israel's seizure of a Gaza-bound aid vessel which it said was carrying Turkish citizens as well as activist Greta Thunberg among its 12-strong crew, calling the move a "clear violation of international law".
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the intervention threatened maritime security and "once again demonstrates that Israel is acting as a terror state."
Israeli naval forces boarded and seized a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the war-torn Gaza Strip on Monday and the boat with its crew of 12, including activist Greta Thunberg, is now heading to a port in Israel.
The British-flagged yacht, Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

Al Arabiya
37 minutes ago
- Al Arabiya
US holds deep doubts about Palestinian state, Washington's envoy to Israel says
The US no longer wholeheartedly endorses an independent state for Palestinians, Washington's ambassador to Israel said, adding that if one were to be formed it could be elsewhere in the region rather than the West Bank. 'Unless there are some significant things that happen that change the culture, there's no room for it,' Mike Huckabee, an appointee of US President Donald Trump, said in an interview with Bloomberg in Jerusalem. Those probably won't happen 'in our lifetime,' he added. For the latest updates on the Israel-Palestine conflict, visit our dedicated page. When asked if a Palestinian state remains a goal of US policy, as it has been for the past two decades, he said: 'I don't think so.' Regarding location, Huckabee suggested a piece of land could be carved out of a Muslim country rather than asking Israel to make room. 'Does it have to be in Judea and Samaria?' Huckabee, 69, said, using the biblical name the Israeli government favors for the West Bank, where some 3 million Palestinians live under occupation. Palestinians argue that Israel has made a formation of a state nearly impossible by building more and bigger Jewish settlements in the West Bank and undermining Palestinian authorities, while doing little to stop settler violence against Palestinians. European and Arab countries have been working to promote the creation of a Palestinian state led by the Palestinian Authority, which controls parts of the West Bank, as part of a process to end the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. A conference in New York next week, sponsored by France and Saudi Arabia, will be focused on such a state with the idea that the PA lead a multilateral effort to drive Hamas from Gaza and rebuild the coastal strip. Asked how the war could be brought to a conclusion, Huckabee placed the blame solely on Hamas, designated a terrorist organization by the US and European Union, saying the Iran-backed group must free its remaining hostages for the conflict to end. The war was triggered when thousands of Hamas operatives crossed into Israel from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and abducting 250, of which about 50 — many believed to be dead — remain in captivity. Some 54,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's subsequent military campaign, according to the health ministry, and much of the territory has been destroyed, leaving the population mostly displaced and living under unsafe and unhealthy conditions. Concern is building among international governments that Gaza's 2 million inhabitants are facing starvation after Israel barred aid for several weeks from early in March to put pressure on Hamas. A US-Israeli group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, has been working to deliver supplies in recent days but its work has been marred by chaos and violence. Huckabee endorsed the group's operations, saying it feeds Gazans while preventing aid from being seized by Hamas. Religious Divide Huckabee is a former governor of Arkansas and Baptist minister who has previously been an advocate of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, considered illegal by many states and international agencies. He gets along well with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the right wing and religious ministers in his government. In recent days, ultra-Orthodox members of the ruling coalition have threatened to bring down the administration if it doesn't pass a law cementing a longstanding exemption for religious men from military conscription. A bill to dissolve parliament is due to be voted on Wednesday — the first of four required votes in a process that could take weeks or months— and the ultra-Orthodox parties say they'll support it. Huckabee confirmed reports that he met with leaders of the religious parties, known collectively as the Haredim, and told them that if Netanyahu's government fell, it would be viewed poorly in the US. 'Americans won't understand a collapse of a government,' Huckabee said. 'That, to Americans, signals instability.' Opposition politicians eager for early elections to remove Netanyahu, bring back the hostages and end the Gaza war, had reacted angrily to reports of Huckabee's meeting, viewing it as interference in domestic politics. Huckabee said the conversations didn't constitute interference. Asked about the negotiations between the US and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, Huckabee said Trump has made clear the Islamic Republic shouldn't be able to enrich uranium at all — a position Iran has rejected out of hand. 'The president has made clear that there's a limit to his patience with Iran,' Huckabee said. 'He doesn't want there to be carnage. But he also has been even more clear that Iran's not going to have a nuclear weapon, they aren't going to enrich and they're going to have total dismantlement.' On whether the US might attack Iran militarily if the talks fail, he said, 'Nothing's off the table.'


Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Iran Says it Executed 9 ISIS Militants Detained after a 2018 Attack
Iran said Tuesday it executed nine militants of ISIS group detained after a 2018 attack. The Iranian judiciary's Mizan news agency announced the executions, saying that the death sentences had been upheld by the country's top court, The AP news reported. It described the militants as being detained after they were in a clash in the country's western region with Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, in which three troops and several ISIS militants were killed. Authorities said they had seized a cache of combat weapons, including a machine gun and 50 grenades, after surrounding the militants' hideout. Iran carries out executions by hanging. In the past eight months, it has executed an average of one person every six hours, according to Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of advocacy group Iran Human Rights. He said Tuesday's executions were issued without fair trials and that there have been no updates about seven others reportedly detained in the 2018 attack. ISIS, which once held vast territory across Iraq and Syria in a self-described caliphate it declared in 2014, was ultimately beaten back by US-led forces. It has since been in disarray, though it has mounted major assaults. In Iran's neighbor Afghanistan, for instance, ISIS is believed to have grown in strength since the fall of the Western-backed government there to the Taliban in 2021. The group previously claimed a June 2017 attack in Tehran on parliament and a mausoleum of Ayatollah Khomeini that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 50. It has claimed other attacks in Iran, including two suicide bombings in 2024 targeting a commemoration for an Iranian general slain in a 2020 US drone strike. That assault killed at least 94 people. The clash with Revolutionary Guardsmen in 2018 marked a point of heightened tensions between Iran and the militant group. Iran launched ballistic missiles at parts of eastern Syria, vowing revenge after militants disguised themselves as soldiers and opened fire at a military parade in the Islamic Republic's southwest. That attack killed at least 25 people and was claimed by both ISIS and local separatists.

Al Arabiya
an hour ago
- Al Arabiya
Israel deports Greta Thunberg after Gaza-bound ship was seized
Activist Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday, the country's Foreign Ministry said, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on was seized by the Israeli military. Thunberg left on a flight to France and was then headed to her home country of Sweden, Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a post on X. It posted a photo of Thunberg, who shuns air travel, seated on a plane. Thunberg was one of 12 passengers on the Madleen, a ship carrying aid to Gaza that was meant to protest Israel's ongoing war there and shed light on the humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territory, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group behind the journey. Israeli naval forces seized the boat without incident early Monday about 200 kilometers (125 miles) off of Gaza's coast, according to the coalition, which along with rights groups, said Israel's actions were a violation of international law. Israel rejects that charge because it says such ships intend to breach what it says is a lawful naval blockade of Gaza. The boat, accompanied by Israel's navy, arrived in the Israeli port of Ashdod Monday evening, according to Israel's Foreign Ministry. Adalah, a legal rights group in Israel representing the activists, said Thunberg, two other activists and a journalist had agreed to be deported and leave Israel. The other eight activists refused deportation, were being held in detention and their case was set to be heard by Israeli authorities, Adalah said. The activists were expected to be brought before a court later Tuesday, the group added. Sabine Haddad, a spokeswoman for Israel's Interior Ministry, said the activists who were being deported Tuesday had waived their right to appear before a judge. Those who did not will face one and will be held for 96 hours before being deported. Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, was also among the volunteers on board. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians. It was not immediately clear whether she was being immediately deported or detained. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Tuesday that one of the detained French activists signed an expulsion order and will leave Israel on Tuesday for France. The other five refused. He said all the activists received consular visits. On Monday, Adalah, the rights group, said that Israel had 'no legal authority' to take over the ship, because the group said it was in international waters and it was headed not to Israel but to the 'territorial waters of the state of Palestine.' Amnesty International said Israel was flouting international law with the naval raid and called on Israel to release the activists immediately and unconditionally. 'The arrest of the unarmed activists, who operated in a civilian manner to provide humanitarian aid, amounts to a serious breach of international law,' Adalah said in a statement. Israel viewed the ship as a publicity stunt, calling it the 'selfie yacht.' Israeli officials said that the flotilla was bringing 'meager' aid with what amounted to less than a truckload of goods.