The Israeli navy intercepted 42 ships, sparking worldwide protests demanding sanctions against Israel. Photo / Getty Images
The Israeli navy intercepted 42 ships, sparking worldwide protests demanding sanctions against Israel. Photo / Getty Images
The only remaining boat in a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza sailed towards the Palestinian territory today after Israeli navy interceptions of its fellow ships drew worldwide protests.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, comprising dozens of ships, set sail last month, ferrying politicians and activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, towardsGaza, where the United Nations says famine is taking hold.
The Israeli navy began intercepting them on Wednesday, and an Israeli official said yesterday that boats with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching Gaza.
Flotilla organisers said today that 42 ships had been “illegally intercepted” and their passengers “unlawfully abducted”.
That left just one ship, the Marinette, pressing ahead with its mission to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
About 15,000 people marched in Barcelona, where the flotilla began its voyage, chanting “Gaza, you are not alone”, “Boycott Israel” and “Freedom for Palestine”.
Hundreds also gathered outside the Irish parliament in Dublin, where Miriam McNally, whose daughter was sailing with the flotilla, said she was “worried sick”.
Protests also took place in Paris, Berlin, The Hague, Tunis, Brasilia and Buenos Aires, according to AFP correspondents.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the interceptions.
“I commend the soldiers and commanders of the navy who carried out their mission on Yom Kippur in the most professional and efficient manner,” he said yesterday.
“Their important action prevented dozens of vessels from entering the war zone and repelled a campaign of delegitimisation against Israel.”
Gaza’s civil defence agency and hospitals said Israeli strikes on the territory killed at least 52 people yesterday, including an employee of the French charity Doctors Without Borders.
The nearly two-year war was sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
The attack resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign since then has killed 66,225 Palestinians in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
