Israel cancels deportation of Madleen crew after Iran attack
Adalah, the civil rights organisation representing the activists, said Marco van Rennes (Netherlands), Pascal Maurieras (France) and Yanis Mhamdi (France) remain in custody at Givon Prison after the scheduled deportation flights were cancelled.
Israel's airspace has been closed and all commercial flights grounded after Benjamin Netanyahu's government attacked multiple sites in Iran, in strikes which have raised the potential for an all-out war.
Israel said it had targeted the country's nuclear programme, killing several commanders, including the leader of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, Hossein Salami.
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Israeli leaders said the attack was necessary to head off what they described as an imminent threat that Iran would build nuclear bombs and they warned of a reprisal which could target civilians in Israel.
On Thursday, Israel deported Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian member of the European parliament, Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, Turkish activist Suayb Ordu, French activist Reva Viard and German activist Yasemin Acar.
Adalah said at the time that the remaining crew members would be deported by Israel on Friday. It was previously understood that van Rennes would also be deported on Thursday, but he remains in Israel.
It comes after four other activists, including Swedish climate and social justice campaigner Greta Thunberg, French physician Baptiste Andre, Spanish activist Sergio Toribio and French Al-Jazeera journalist Omar Faiad, were deported on Tuesday.
The Madleen, co-ordinated by humanitarian organisation Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), set sail for Gaza on June 1 with the aim of delivering much needed aid and breaking Israel's naval blockade.
However, Israeli forces intercepted the Madleen while it was in international waters early on Monday morning, seizing the ship and detaining the 12 activists on board.
The FFC said in a statement on Friday that the three activists who remain in Israel "may face an extra month" in prison.
Adalah added that lawyers are working to arrange visits to the three volunteers who remain in Israel, however it is still unclear whether access will be granted.
READ MORE: Israel 'already planning even more brutal' attacks on Iran, Donald Trump claims
One of the crew members still detained, Mhamdi, is a journalist working for French independent media outlet Blast.
In a statement published on Friday morning – translated from French – the outlet said: "We were hoping for an imminent return of our journalist, imprisoned in Israel since the boarding of the Madleen and the arrest of its crew. It has failed.
"Due to the current escalation between Israel and Iran, Israeli authorities have closed the airspace, and the deportation flights scheduled for today have been abruptly cancelled.
"Yanis Mhamdi and the last two volunteers, Dutchman Marco van Rennes and Frenchman Pascal Maurieras, remain imprisoned in Givon prison.
"Only firm and determined intervention by French diplomacy could resolve the situation and help our lawyers on the ground secure the speedy repatriation of the three detainees."
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