Israeli rights group confirms vessel, detained activists onboard remain at sea
Israel said Monday that it had seized an aid ship bound for Gaza and detained all activists onboard, with the vessel being towed to Ashdod port.
A Foreign Ministry statement said that the Madleen aid ship “is continuing its journey toward” the port.
“Upon arrival, arrangements will be made for their return to their respective home countries,” the ministry added.
Israel's public broadcaster KAN earlier reported that the vessels had already docked at the port.
The Israeli human rights center Adalah confirmed that the vessel and the detained activists onboard have not yet been brought to the country and remain at sea.
“The activists on the flotilla are part of a civilian mission to break the illegal blockade on Gaza,” it said. “The Madleen was unlawfully intercepted in international waters, and the activists were detained illegally.”
The rights group demanded guarantees of legal representation for the activists before the judiciary, stressing that it will take "legal steps" in the coming days to ensure their release.
The British-flagged boat aimed to break a crippling blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza, where nearly 55,000 people have been killed in a brutal onslaught since October 2023.
Carrying an amount of aid, including food and baby formula, the ship was boarded by Israeli forces during the night before it could reach the Gaza shore and was towed to Ashdod Port.
According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, Israeli authorities plan to hold the foreign activists in separate prison cells in the Givon Prison facility in Ramla in central Israel.
The activists will be offered some tools and clothes, including hygiene materials that Palestinian prisoners are deprived of, the daily said.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the prison authority not to allow any electronic devices, including radios or televisions, in the cells where the activists will be held, it added.
The aid ship had a 12-strong crew on board, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan.
Other activists aboard the Madleen aid ship include Yasemin Acar from Germany; Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi, and Reva Viard from France; Thiago Avila from Brazil; Suayb Ordu from Türkiye; Sergio
Toribio from Spain; Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands; and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France.
As Israel continued to close all Gaza's border crossings to humanitarian aid since early March, aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among Gaza's 2.4 million population.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.
