Israel is “quite sure” that in support of the flotilla that sails near Crete’s Greek island in the direction of Gaza “they won’t need.” “We have no problem with the fact that there are ships around […] There is no plan to be involved. They were or sent to be at a certain distance, ”said the general director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Eden Bar-Tal, when asked about it in a press conference dedicated to the flotilla to Gaza, at the headquarters of the Ministry in Jerusalem. The Global Sumud Flotilla, the Maritime Humanitarian Mission Rumbo Israelí ended up stopping its progress, “will do the maximum to protect the safety of passengers,” added Bar-Tal.
Spain from the Cartagena Base “a maritime action ship equipped with all the means to attend the flotilla or perform a rescue,” said the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, from New York. Its mission is not to escort it, nor face the Israeli army, which has already attacked or intercepted this and previous flotles to Gaza in the last two decades. The most famous case, in 2010, was the assault on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, and that generated an unprecedented diplomatic crisis between Türkiye and Israel. It is rather to rescue and attend its members in case it is necessary. “I am not aware of any other purpose and I do not believe that those governments have expressed it,” said Bar-Tal.
Israel calls it “The Hamas Flotilla” and has urged it in recent days to download aid in other countries (such as Greece or Cyprus) and deliver it to enter it into the Palestinian enclave, in part of which the UN declared in August a famine, and where, despite there are hundreds of thousands of people.
Also the Italian Defense Minister, Guido Crosetto, has urged the organizers of the flotilla to deliver their humanitarian load in Cyprus, because “once they have abandoned international waters and entered into waters of another state, security cannot be guaranteed.” The initiative of Rome – which supports the Government of Benjamín Netanyahu – consists in delivering aid not directly to Israel, but, the highest Catholic authority in the Holy Land, to get it to Gaza. The Italian delegation of the Flotilla has rejected the alternative proposal, to stay “faithful to its original objective of breaking the illegal siege of Israel and delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged population of Gaza,” he declared in a statement.
Responsibility
The general director of the Israeli Foreign Ministry wanted to be “clear” this Thursday when his army “will not allow Gaza to enter” the ships of the flotilla, with the argument that it is “active combat zone” and that they would violate their naval block over the strip. And he has launched a new warning: “Any new rejection [a depositar la ayuda en otro puerto] He will put responsibility in the organizers of the Flotilla. ”The Foreign Minister Gideon Saar had already interpreted in the social network X not to the proposal of the Executive of Giorgia Meloni as“ proof that his true purpose is to provoke and serve Hamas ”.
Spain and Italy have decided to send their vessels less than 48 hours after the mission, which departed from Barcelona almost a month ago, denounced and “interference in communications” at dawn, during their journey in the Mediterranean. According to the crew, the explosions were heard “inside and around several ships of the flotilla” and “objects thrown on at least ten vessels, from drones or aircraft, causing damage.” Bar-Tal has refused to confirm the Israeli authorship of the action.
