Last boat of the 42 flotilla carrying aid for Gaza intercepted by Israeli forces

The final boat out of the 42 flotilla that was heading to Gaza with humanitarian aid was intercepted by the Israeli forces on Friday. The boat, along with other vessels carrying activists, politicians, etc., was trying to breach Israel’s 16-year maritime blockade to deliver aid to the Palestinian coastal enclave, struggling with a grave humanitarian crisis.

A live stream from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) late on Thursday evening showed the Polish-flagged sailing boat Marinette still “sailing strong towards Gaza” after the Israeli government claimed that they had halted the flotilla carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists, including Greta Thunberg.

On Friday, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa'ar, said that procedures are being undertaken to deport the participants who are in custody. Four Italian MPs among the 40 Italian nationals taking part in the flotilla are expected to return on a scheduled flight to Italy, The Guardian reported.

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Meanwhile, footage from Thursday night showed the final boat of the flotilla crewed by six people, including three Turkish citizens, a German and an Omani. Speaking via a video call with flotilla organisers. “We have a bunch of very tough Turks onboard … we’ve got a lady from Oman and me, and we’re just going to continue in the direction," the Australian captain of Marinette said.

The ship that joined late

While speaking to the media, Hannah Claire Smith, a flotilla spokesperson, said Marinette had joined the flotilla late after bad weather forced it to return to the port of Barcelona. Smith noted that, probably because of this delay, Marinette managed to surprise the Israelis.

According to The Guardian, the boat was intercepted on Friday morning when GSF estimated that it was 42.5 nautical miles from the Gaza coast. This was the first time since Israel imposed a naval blockade in 2009 that an unauthorised humanitarian mission had come closer than 70 nautical miles to Gaza.

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According to the flotilla’s live tracker, a sailing boat named Mikeno also appeared to have crossed into Gaza’s territorial waters, idling 9 miles off the coast before being intercepted. GSF maintained that it had no firm information on the matter since the organisers had lost contact with Mikeno’s crew hours earlier.

“It could be a tracker error or a technical issue with the monitoring,” said Smith. “We will only have confirmation after speaking with the Mikeno crew, which is impossible right now as they are currently being held by the Israelis.” The detained activists on the flotilla are being taken to Israel, where they will face deportation, according to Israel’s foreign ministry.