Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship ‘diverted' towards Israel

Irish Times

5 hours ago

A
Gaza
-bound ship carrying a dozen pro-
Palestinian
activists and some aid had been diverted toward Israeli shores and its passengers are expected to return to their home countries, the
Israeli
Foreign Ministry said early Monday.
Israel had vowed Sunday to prevent the ship from reaching the Gaza Strip, saying its military would use 'any means necessary' to stop it from breaching a naval blockade of the enclave.
The civilian ship, called the Madleen, has been operating under the auspices of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international grassroots campaign that opposes the nearly two-decade-old blockade.
The ship set sail from Sicily on June 1st and the passengers included Swedish activist
Greta Thunberg
and Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament.
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'Israel is once again acting with total impunity,' the group said in the statement.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday said 'the 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel.' It accused 'Greta and others' of attempting 'to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity'.
The ministry later posted video of what it said were the passengers, who were wearing life jackets and being offered sandwiches and water.
The posts came soon after the Freedom Flotilla Coalition announced that alarms had sounded and drones were over the ship, then said it had lost contact with the Madleen. The group said the activists had been 'kidnapped' by the Israeli military.
Israel imposed its blockade on Gaza, with Egypt's help, after Hamas, the Islamic militant group, took over the coastal strip in 2007. Israeli officials have said the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from being smuggled into the enclave.
Conditions in Gaza have worsened dramatically in the 20 months of war since the deadly
Hamas
-led attack on Israel in October 2023.
Israel recently barred the entry of humanitarian aid into the territory for 80 days, bringing the population to the brink of famine, according to international aid organisations. It has since supported an aid delivery system that has been marred by violence and shunned by humanitarian groups.
The Madleen was carrying only a symbolic amount of humanitarian assistance – an amount the Israeli Foreign Ministry dismissed as 'tiny' and 'less than a single truckload of aid'.
The coalition had said in a statement that it was bringing urgently needed goods, including baby formula, flour, rice, nappies, medical supplies and children's prosthetics.
Israel's defence minister, Israel Katz, said Sunday that he had instructed the country's military to prevent the vessel from reaching Gaza.
Ms Thunberg has been an outspoken opponent of Israel's blockade and its conduct of the war.
'We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,' she said last week. 'Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity. And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it's not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the livestreamed genocide.'
Israel's military has blocked past attempts by pro-Palestinian activists to bring aid to Gaza by sea, including by force.
In 2010, nine passengers aboard the Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla carrying aid from Turkey to Gaza, were killed in an Israeli commando raid, stirring international outrage and damaging Turkish-Israeli relations. A 10th passenger died from his wounds years later.
Israel said at the time that its soldiers, some of whom had rappelled on to the ship from helicopters, came under ambush and were attacked with clubs, metal rods and knives.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has described the interception of the Mavi Marmara as 'an unlawful and deadly attack' and said the Madleen's mission was 'a continuation of that legacy – a refusal to surrender to silence, fear or complicity' in the face of the siege of Gaza.
Another recent attempt by the coalition to challenge the blockade was thwarted. A ship called Conscience left Tunisia in late April carrying human rights activists and aid and was scheduled to stop in Malta to pick up more people, including Ms Thunberg. But the ship was rocked by explosions off the coast of Malta, setting it on fire.
The passengers and crew were not harmed, but the mission was abandoned.
This article originally appeared in
The New York Times
.