ISRAEL-GAZA/FLOTILLA-SHIP Israel blocks foreign activist flotilla from reaching Gaza

Record ID: 145718

  • Title: ISRAEL-GAZA/FLOTILLA-SHIP Israel blocks foreign activist flotilla from reaching Gaza
  • Date: 29th June 2015
  • Summary: ASHDOD, ISRAEL (JUNE 29, 2015) (REUTERS) (NIGHT SHOTS) VARIOUS OF ISRAELI NAVY SHIP LEADING FLOTILLA HELICOPTERS HOVERING ABOVE ASHDOD PORT AT SUNSET LIGHTHOUSE IN ASHDOD PORT VARIOUS OF PEOPLE LOOKING AT ASHDOD SEA, LOOKING AT FLOTILLA ARRIVING TO PORT VIEW OF ASHDOD PORT GAZA CITY, GAZA (JUNE 29, 2015) (REUTERS) HAMAS SPOKESMAN, FAWZI BARHOUM, SITTING IN HIS OFFICE BARHO
  • Embargoed: 14th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Gaza
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA8K5VNGE395IZK3AIE1R4GALJW
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Israeli forces boarded a boat leading a protest flotilla of foreign activists to the blockaded Palestinian enclave of Gaza on Monday (June 29) and forced it to sail to an Israeli port, the Israeli military said.
    Activists said the boat also carried a group of journalists and politicians, among them former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki and a European Parliament lawmaker for Spain.
    Israeli troops boarded the boat in international waters then searched and seized it, an Israeli military statement said.
    It said troops searched the vessel and then escorted it to to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The passengers would be handed over to immigration authorities and deported.
    No bloodshed was reported.
    The flotilla was the latest in a series of such voyages across the Mediterranean in protest against Israel's nine-year blockade of Islamist Hamas-dominated Gaza.
    Earlier, Hamas condemned Israel for preventing the five-vessel protest flotilla from reaching Gaza.
    "This big event should move the international community from the silent positions to the position of activating decisions against the Israeli occupation in local and international courts. It also requires protecting all convoys that stand in solidarity with the Gaza strip and the Palestinian people and protect our people from the occupation, the aggression and the violations. We consider that the message of the Freedom Flotilla 3 has been delivered and it should be a motivation for the people in the area and the whole world, to all the leaders and politicians to come to Gaza via ground, sea and air to break the blockade and reveal the crimes of the Israeli occupation," said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum in Gaza city.
    Activists said the intercepted boat included about 50 activists from 17 countries, including an Israeli Arab lawmaker.
    "The fate of these people... we put the full responsibility of the safety of these passengers, children, knights on the occupation state and I ask all the organizations, I ask the United Nations, The European Union and all international organizations to pressure Israel to stop these barbaric actions," the coordinator of Breaking The Siege Organization, Wael Attallah, said.
    "This convoy is a civil initiative that came to execute international decisions, those decisions that refuse to the Israeli blockade on Gaza, and asked to end it. Therefore, the responsibility today is on the international community that should move to end the blockade and hold Israel accountable to its arrogance and piracy in the middle of the sea," added Rami Abdo, the president of the International Committee to Break The Siege.
    Activists said the boats had set sail on Sunday (June 28) with a cargo of solar panels intended to help alleviate electricity shortages in Gaza, as well as medical equipment for the impoverished territory, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.
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