Yasemin Acar, a human rights activist and press coordinator for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) aboard the non-profit’s Madleen, mentioned Israel had begun to disrupt their web entry as they’re hours away from reaching the Gaza Strip.
Speaking to Anadolu from the Madleen, the help boat that departed from southern Italy with the objective of delivering humanitarian support to Gaza and difficult Israel’s blockade, Acar mentioned “we have just been notified by our land team that our internet jamming has started officially and we can definitely see this from our connection because it has slowed down immensely and that means we could be cut out from the world any moment.”
She mentioned the vessel was at the moment 116 nautical miles from Gaza, nonetheless in worldwide waters, and warned that communication with the surface world might be severed any time.
Addressing authorized and humanitarian implications of a potential army response, Acar mentioned: “We are in international waters heading towards the waters of the Gaza territory and if anything was to happen to us, meaning if the IDF would show violence against the humanitarian mission carrying humanitarian aid, this would be yet another war crime because we are not in their territories.”
She recalled prior Israeli actions in opposition to comparable missions, together with the 2010 raid on the Mavi Marmara, which killed 10 activists, and the current drone strike on the FFC’s Conscience vessel close to Malta on May 2.
– ‘The subsequent 24 hours are very essential’
After eight days at sea, the crew intends to succeed in Gaza by Monday morning, provided that there isn’t a interference. As of now, Israel has made no direct or oblique contact with the vessel.
Acar careworn the urgency of their mission, emphasizing that “the next 24 hours are very crucial.”
The 12-person crew stays in excessive spirits, Acar mentioned, highlighting the presence of Swedish local weather activist Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham.
“The Madleen is just a small fraction of a global uprising,” she mentioned.
She criticized the silence of the worldwide group within the face of Israel’s aggression and blockade, saying “the international community has stayed silent in the face of this illegal blockade. We’ve been saying this for many, many years and for the past days, we are a non-violent action. We carry no weapons. We are not looking for violence.”
Their mission, she mentioned, is easy and pressing. “All we are looking for is to bring this aid to the starving population in the face of a world being silent about it and shipping weapons instead of shipping humanitarian aid and lifting the illegal blockade on Gaza.”
– Threats to Madleen
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered on Sunday the army to stop the vessel from reaching Gaza.
The Israeli Navy is getting ready to intercept the humanitarian vessel because it approaches Gaza’s waters, with plans to forcibly redirect it to Ashdod port.
Sharing a photograph of his assembly with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and naval commanders, Katz mentioned: “I have instructed the Israeli military to do whatever is necessary to prevent the Madleen hate flotilla from reaching Gaza. I am clearly telling the anti-Semitic Greta and Hamas propaganda spokespeople: Turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
– Madleen’s voyage
As a part of the newest mission organized by the FFC to interrupt the blockade on Gaza and ship support to the area, the 18-meter crusing boat Madleen set sail for Gaza on June 1 from the Port of San Giovanni Li Cuti in Catania, Sicily, Italy.
A complete of 12 individuals are on board the Madleen, together with 11 activists and one journalist. Among them are Swedish local weather activist Greta Thunberg; French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan; 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, additionally from France.
The ship is carrying urgently wanted provides for the individuals of Gaza, together with child system, flour, rice, diapers, girls’s sanitary merchandise, water desalination kits, medical provides, crutches, and kids’s prosthetics, based on its organizers.
Source: www.anews.com.tr