Israel says intercepted Gaza flotilla boat passengers to be deported
According to organisers, 39 ships have been stopped, leaving only one vessel still sailing towards the Palestinian enclave
Israeli forces have intercepted the bulk of a flotilla carrying food and foreign activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, on its way to Gaza, organisers of the aid effort said on Thursday, Reuters has reported.
According to organisers, 39 ships have been stopped, leaving only one vessel still sailing towards the Palestinian enclave.
The activists are expected to be transferred to immigration authorities once they arrive at the Israeli port of Ashdod, said Suhad Bishara, director at the Israel-based Adalah rights group and legal centre. From there, they will be moved to Ketziot Prison before being deported, she added. Bishara's organisation will be providing legal advice to the detained activists.
"Our main concern at this stage, of course, is their well-being and health condition, as well as making sure that they all receive legal advice prior to the hearings, during the hearings in the Immigration Tribunal, and while they are in Israeli prison," Bishara told Reuters in Ashdod on Thursday.
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Ketziot, located in southern Israel, is a high-security prison that does not normally hold immigration detainees, said Omer Shatz, an Israeli international law expert at Sciences Po University in Paris.
Cameras broadcasting live feeds from the boats, verified by Reuters, showed Israeli soldiers wearing helmets and night vision goggles as they boarded the ships, while those on board huddled together in life vests with their hands raised. A video released by the Israeli foreign ministry showed Thunberg sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
The flotilla, which set sail in late August, was transporting medicine and food to Gaza. It consisted of more than 40 civilian vessels carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers, and activists. It is the most high-profile symbol of opposition to Israel's blockade of Gaza to date.
The flotilla's progress across the Mediterranean Sea attracted international attention, with countries including Turkey, Spain, and Italy sending boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance — even as Israel issued repeated warnings to turn back.
Israel's interception of the flotilla sparked protests in Italy and Colombia, while demonstrations were also called in Greece, Ireland, and Turkey.
Greece says 27 activists are in good health
The 27 Greek nationals participating in the flotilla are in good health and there is no evidence of violence against them, the Greek foreign ministry said in a statement.
"According to an update from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the flotilla ships are safely arriving at the port of Ashdod, accompanied by Israeli ships, and procedures will follow for the registration and deportation of those on board," the ministry said.
"In cooperation with the other countries whose citizens are participating in the mission and are in Israel, the planned actions towards Israel will be taken and consular assistance will be provided," it added.
South Africa calls for release of its activists, including Mandela's grandson
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday described Israel's interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla as a "grave offence" against "global solidarity and sentiment that is aimed at relieving suffering in Gaza."
In a statement, Ramaphosa called on Israel to immediately release South Africans and others on the flotilla, including Nelson Mandela's grandson, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela.
Mandla Mandela, as he is commonly known, left Johannesburg in September to join the flotilla. He had said that Palestinians' lives under Israeli occupation are worse than what South Africans experienced under apartheid.
Israel rejects comparisons between the lives of Palestinians under occupation and blockade for more than half a century, and the apartheid era in South Africa, when the Black majority was ruled by a repressive white minority government.
