The Global Sumud Flotilla initiative said on its website on Monday that the Israeli navy had detained 16 of its ships bound for the Gaza Strip. According to the information available on this page, it is Slovak citizen Dáša Raimanová is also among the captured activistsinforms TASR.
“Israeli warships have encircled the Global Sumud in international waters approximately 250 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza and are actively intercepting civilian vessels,” wrote the initiative. According to her, this is “another illegal aggression”, which occurred four days after 54 ships of this initiative set sail from the port in the Turkish city of Marmaris with the aim of “creating a humanitarian corridor and breaking the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza”.
The AP agency reports that Israeli forces intercepted the ships near Cyprus. In a live broadcast of the initiative on Monday, activists on board several vessels were seen donning life jackets and raising their hands as a ship carrying soldiers approached them. Israeli military personnel boarded and the live broadcast ended.
About an hour before this crackdown, the Israeli Foreign Ministry on the X Network called on the activists to change course and turn around immediately. There are 426 people from 39 countries on 54 ships, reports Reuters.
The website of the initiative states that a citizen of SR Raimanová was also on the captured ship named Furleto. After the capture of the flotilla participants, the initiative publishes videos on its website in which the activists introduce themselves, state their nationality and announce that they have been captured by the Israeli army. Among these videos is a video link from Raimanová. She informed about her trip to the Gaza Strip in recent days on the Instagram social network.
The capture of the activists came after the Israeli navy seized more than 20 of the initiative’s vessels in international waters west of the Greek island of Crete on April 30 and captured 175 people. Most of the activists were deported by Israel, but two – Spanish citizen with Palestinian origin Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Ávila – were detained and repeatedly extended their detention. The Israeli authorities finally deported them on May 10.
Activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla initiative want to break the Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave that has lasted since 2007 and bring humanitarian aid to the territory.
