Steps needed to end captivity of ‘noble activists’ abducted from Gaza flotilla: Turkiye’s foreign minister
While praising the Gaza aid flotilla and the activists on board, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan says his country needs “to take an operational step as soon as possible to end their captivity” after the “noble activists were detained”.
Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla late on Wednesday and Thursday, abducting about 450 activists from dozens of countries as they sailed towards Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.
Fidan said Turkiye contacted Israeli authorities and security officials through its National Intelligence Organization.
French politicians and flotilla participants detained in Israel launch hunger strike
Four French deputies detained by Israel during the interception of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla have declared a hunger strike, according to their party.
The leftist France Unbowed party said two of its national deputies – Francois Piquemal and Marie Mesmeur – and two of its members of the European Parliament – Rima Hassan and Emma Fourreau – began the hunger strike “in solidarity with the Palestinian people”.
“We have no news from them” apart from “brief exchanges with their lawyers and with the French consul who was able to visit them,” France Unbowed member of the European Parliament Manon Aubry told the French radio station Franceinfo.
“Their detention conditions are difficult,” she said, describing more than 10 people per cell and difficulty accessing water.
Aubry called on French authorities to repatriate the detained nationals, numbering 30.
“It is time for France to finally take action,” Aubry said, echoing her party’s national coordinator Manuel Bompard’s calls for “France to finally say something” on French television channel LCI.
