The Israeli army disembarked in Greece this Friday 168 of the activists it had held since it boarded part of the flotilla to Gaza the day before in international waters. They are all except two: the Palestinian Saif Abu Keshek and the Brazilian Thiago Ávila. The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has surprisingly announced that it will transfer them by sea to its territory for interrogation. It considers the first “suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organization” and the second, of “illegal activity.”
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Born in Askar, a refugee camp in Nablus, in the north of the West Bank, Abu Keshek has been living in Spain for more than 20 years and currently resides in Barcelona. Spain’s Minister of Culture, Ernest Urtasun, has spoken out about his situation: “We are facing a kidnapping and we will not allow it.”
Ávila, who had participated in previous flotillas to Gaza, was detained in April at Buenos Aires airport after Argentina (President Javier Milei is a fervent supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu) denied him entry to announce the local delegation of the flotilla.
The Global Sumud Flotilla has launched a call on social media for the release of their companions. “We demand that all governments pressure the Israeli regime to release all those illegally kidnapped,” the group states. The rest of the activists were disembarked this morning on the Greek island of Crete by a ship. Buses and an ambulance were waiting for them there, as can be seen in the released images.
They are those who were traveling on the 22 vessels intercepted by the Israeli Navy hundreds of kilometers from Gaza, in international waters near Greece. Another 47 make up the flotilla that set sail from the port of Barcelona on April 12 loaded with humanitarian aid, aiming to break the Israeli blockade of the Strip. After that boarding, they moved to Greek territorial waters.
Off the coast of Ierapetra, in Crete, 26 remain waiting for the release of their intercepted companions. The crews are debating whether to reach land or stay in coastal waters due to the risk of a blockade by the Greek government, which they hold responsible for collaborating with Israel to stop the flotilla.
At a general assembly held on Tuesday, the participants agreed to decide during the week whether to continue the mission. Morale remains high and the goal is still the same: to reach Gaza.
In the next three days, a regrouping is expected in southern Crete of the 33 vessels not intercepted by Israel along with another seven recovered at sea that the Israeli Navy tried to invalidate. From Greece, they will be able to resupply and resume course towards Palestine.
Meanwhile, the Israeli assault on the ships with humanitarian aid continues to receive international condemnation. The Foreign Ministries of Germany and Italy have issued a joint statement in which they say they are following the events with “deep concern.”
The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, stated the day before that “Israel again violates international law by assaulting a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it” and reiterated his request to the EU to immediately suspend the association agreement with Israel. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also urgently summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Israeli Embassy in Madrid to convey its “strongest condemnation.”
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