A vessel that was approaching the ship “Madeleine“ of the humanitarian organization “Freedom Flotilla“, traveling to Gaza, eventually turned away, the organization said this morning, after the ship was given an alert warning of a possible interception, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
A few hours earlier, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the military to stop the ship, which was transporting activists, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, to Gaza, as well as a symbolic amount of aid, including rice and baby food, in violation of the Israeli blockade.
The humanitarian organization published on its “Telegram“ a voice message from Tiago Avila, one of the activists on board, saying: “We were surrounded by many lights at once; they circled around our ship, but in the end they continued on their way”.
The ship “Madeleine“ of the pro-Palestinian humanitarian organization “Freedom Flotilla“ sails under the British flag and is currently off the Egyptian coast, slowly moving towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel, Reuters points out.
“I have ordered the IDF to prevent the ship “Madeleine“ from reaching Gaza. The anti-Semitic Greta and her companions - propaganda mouthpieces of “Hamas” "I say it clearly: go back, because you will not reach Gaza," Katz said earlier last night, quoted by dariknews.bg.
Yesterday, the organizers of the trip on the ship "Madeleine" stated that they had reached the Egyptian coast and were approaching the Gaza Strip. According to them, the vessel - part of the "Freedom Flotilla" coalition - set sail from Sicily on June 1 and headed for Gaza.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to violate the naval blockade of Gaza, the main goal of which is to prevent the transfer of weapons to "Hamas", a destructive terrorist organization that holds our hostages and commits war crimes. "Israel will act against any attempt to breach the blockade or support terrorist organizations by sea, air or land," Katz said.