Currently Online 
Attack on Freedom Flotilla marks ‘escalation’, group member says
Palestinian-American activist Huwaida Arraf says the attack on the Freedom Flotilla vessel Conscience outside Maltese territorial waters marks an “escalation” compared to previous missions she was involved in.
In 2010, Arraf was on board one of six vessels known as the Freedom Flotilla I that was intercepted by the Israeli navy. Israeli commandos who boarded the Turkish Mavi Marmara opened fire and killed nine activists.
On that occasion, “[Israel] hit us in international waters, but we were on our way to Gaza and they had communicated with us to tell us to turn back,” Arraf said. “I was the one to speak to them on the radio to say that what we’re doing is lawful, we are bringing humanitarian aid, we’re unarmed civilians.”
The Conscience had left from an undisclosed location and was hit on Thursday while on its way to Malta to pick up more aid and volunteers. Arraf said the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has so far refrained from disclosing where the vessel departed from as previous missions had failed to depart following Israel’s diplomatic pressure.
While an attack was something the group had anticipated, Arraf said it did not expect it would happen during the “preparatory phases”, before it had even begun sailing towards Gaza. “This is an escalation,” the lawyer and human rights activist said.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/may/31/israel-kills-activists-flotilla-gaza
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/jun/04/gaza-flotilla-activists-autopsy-results
Oh look, Netanyahu was president then as well.
Hamas warns Gaza now in phase of ‘total famine’ amid crippling aid blockade
Hamas official Abdel Rahman Shadid said Gaza has entered a phase of “total famine” and “acute malnutrition”, accusing Israel of using starvation as a “deliberate weapon of war” to subjugate Palestinians.
In a statement published on the group’s Telegram, Shadid said, “Children are dying from the lack of milk, not just from bombs.”
He condemned the Israeli government’s repeated rejection of ceasefire agreements and said fighters from Hamas and other factions have turned the battlefield into a “zone of attrition” where Israeli forces are “stumbling without achieving their goals”.
Shadid said Israeli attacks have also continued across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, including the destruction of homes and the displacement of thousands of Palestinians.
“Despite the occupation’s crimes, the resistance is growing stronger and continues to disrupt Israel’s plans,” he said.
He reiterated that Hamas is ready to negotiate a prisoner swap deal, stating that the group’s position is based on a comprehensive exchange agreement tied to a full ceasefire and complete Israeli withdrawal.
