CAIRO: The organisers of a Gaza-bound assist boat carrying Swedish local weather activist Greta Thunberg and different activists mentioned Israeli forces intercepted the vessel on Monday (Jun 9), after Israel vowed to stop it from reaching the Palestinian territory.
AFP misplaced contact with the activists onboard early Monday morning after the organisers mentioned alarms sounded and life jackets have been being ready for a doable interception.
“Connection has been misplaced on the ‘Madleen’. Israeli military have boarded the vessel”, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the activist group working the vessel, posted on Telegram.
It added that the passengers had been “kidnapped” by Israeli forces.
The activist group posted a collection of pre-recorded movies from these onboard, together with one from Thunberg.
“In the event you see this video, we now have been intercepted and kidnapped in worldwide waters,” she mentioned.
Mahmud Abu-Odeh, a Germany-based press officer with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, instructed AFP that “the activists appeared to be arrested”.
The British-flagged yacht Madleen, which is operated by FFC, was aiming to ship a symbolic quantity of assist to Gaza in a while Monday and lift worldwide consciousness of the humanitarian disaster there.
Among the many 12-strong crew are Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Defence Minister Israel Katz mentioned he had ordered Israel’s military to cease the ship from reaching Gaza or violating a blockade he described as wanted to forestall Palestinian militants from importing weapons.
The Israeli Ministry of International Affairs mentioned the activists’ boat was instructed to alter course because it approached “a restricted space” on early Monday. About an hour later, it mentioned the boat was being towed to Israeli shores.
“The passengers are anticipated to return to their dwelling nations,” the ministry wrote on social media.
“The tiny quantity of assist that was on the yacht and never consumed by the ‘celebrities’ can be transferred to Gaza by means of actual humanitarian channels,” it added.
