Israel on Wednesday night intercepted several boats from a flotilla trying to bring humanitarian goods to Gaza and protest the war there, according to statements from organizers and the Israeli foreign ministry.
The foreign ministry posted a video that showed the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, one of the passengers, calmly engaging with a person wearing military gear. The post said that “several vessels” from the flotilla had been “safely stopped” and that the passengers were being transferred to an Israeli port.
Flotilla organizers said on social media that Israeli naval forces had “illegally intercepted and boarded” boats in international waters, calling it “an illegal attack on unarmed humanitarians.” They also posted video showing some boats being targeted by water cannons.
The boats are part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, run by activists protesting Israel’s war in Gaza by trying to deliver food and other goods to the enclave, in defiance of a longstanding Israeli blockade. Parts of Gaza have been suffering from famine in recent months, according to a United Nations-backed panel of food experts, whose findings Israel has rejected.
A video posted by flotilla organizers shows Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian activist on the group’s steering committee, on one of the boats, responding to an audible demand to turn back by saying that the group was on a humanitarian mission and carried only food, medical supplies and items like water filters.
The office of Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, dismissed the flotilla’s efforts as a public relations “stunt” in a statement on Wednesday night. “Those who tried to enter Israeli territory illegally will be deported immediately after Yom Kippur in Israel,” it read. That holiday began on Wednesday evening and will end on Thursday at sundown.
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The post Israel Intercepts Boats Headed to Gaza With Humanitarian Aid appeared first on New York Times.
