Photo credit: AP
Israeli forces boarded several boats with foreign activists c carrying aid to Gaza and took them to an Israeli port on Wednesday.
The Telegraph Online reports that they disrupted a protest that had become one of the most high-profile symbols of opposition to Israel’s blockade of the enclave.
A video from the Israeli foreign ministry, verified by Reuters, showed the Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg sitting on a deck, surrounded by soldiers.
The Global Sumud Flotilla consisted of over 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists. The flotilla was carrying medicine and food to Gaza. Its progress across the Mediterranean Sea had garnered international attention, and nations including Turkey, Spain, and Italy sent boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance, even as it triggered repeated warnings from Israel to turn back.
The flotilla is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Its organizers denounced Wednesday’s raid as a “war crime.” They said the military used aggressive tactics, including the use of water cannon. However, no one was harmed.
The flotilla had hoped to arrive in Gaza on Thursday morning if it was not intercepted.
