Handala crew member says Israeli forces have reached the aid ship
Emma Fourreau, a French member of the European Parliament and part of the Gaza-bound Handala crew, says Israeli forces have approached the vessel.
“The Israeli army is here,” she wrote in a post on X, adding that she and other activists aboard would throw their phones into the sea.
Her remarks come as Al Jazeera Arabic reports that three Israeli naval vessels have neared the ship, hours after its crew said an Israeli drone had been circling overhead.
Translation: “The Israeli army is here. We are throwing our phones into the sea. See you very soon. Stop the genocide.”
Israeli soldiers have boarded Gaza-bound Handala
A livestream shared by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition shows at least half a dozen Israeli soldiers have boarded the aid vessel.
The activists aboard are sitting together, wearing life jackets and with their arms raised.
IDF boards at 1h13 in the stream.
Flotilla activists making statement that ‘world not going to sit by’ as Gaza starves
They were trying to break Israel’s blockade and deliver humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people. This is the second flotilla of its kind. Previously, just around 40 days ago, there was a similar boat, the Madleen, that was also seized by the Israeli army.
Within the last hour, Israeli media reported that the Israeli navy was heading towards the ship, that there were two vessels that had surrounded the Handala boat, and that there was an Israeli drone flying overhead before the Israeli navy boarded the ship to intercept it.
The last boat that was seized by Israeli forces was redirected to the port of Ashdod, which is just north of the Gaza Strip. Everyone on board was then detained, followed by [being] deported back to whatever country that they have citizenship in.
The point that the activists are trying to make is that even though they know that getting seized and intercepted by Israeli forces is a threat, they’re trying to make a statement internationally both to their governments … and also to the Israeli government that the world is not going to sit by and watch while Israel starves the people of Gaza and sends them into a humanitarian disaster, that there are people that are willing to do things to try and break the siege.
