{"id":94995,"date":"2025-06-09T03:26:06","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T03:26:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/israeli-forces-board-aid-boat-bound-for-gaza-freedom-flotilla-coalition-says\/"},"modified":"2025-06-09T03:26:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T03:26:06","slug":"israeli-forces-board-aid-boat-bound-for-gaza-freedom-flotilla-coalition-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/israeli-forces-board-aid-boat-bound-for-gaza-freedom-flotilla-coalition-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli forces board aid boat bound for Gaza, Freedom Flotilla Coalition says"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Israeli forces have boarded a charity vessel attempting to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said early on Monday.<\/p>\n

The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian FFC, had departed from Sicily on June 6 and had hoped to reach Gaza later in the day, when the interception occurred, the group said on its Telegram account.<\/p>\n

Among those on board the boat are Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.<\/p>\n

The Israeli military had no immediate comment.<\/p>\n

Shortly before the FFC statement, the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted a video on X showing the Israeli Navy communicating with the Madleen over a loudspeaker, urging it to change course.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to naval traffic as part of a legal naval blockade,\u201d a soldier said. \u201cIf you wish to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, you are able to do so through the (Israeli) port of Ashdod.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organisers of the Madleen\u2019s voyage said on Saturday that they had reached<\/a> Egyptian waters and were nearing Gaza, where the conflict between Israel and Hamas entered its 21st month.<\/p>\n

The Madleen, a sailing boat operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left<\/a> Italy on June 1 with the stated aim of delivering humanitarian aid and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade of Gaza, which is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas \u2014 a murderous terrorist group holding our hostages and committing war crimes,\u201d Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIsrael will act against any attempt to break the blockade or support terror groups \u2014 by sea, air or land,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The coalition responded in a statement on X, saying it expected \u201cinterception and an attack from Israel at any moment\u201d and calling for the governments of those on board to protect them.<\/p>\n

The post added that the Madleen is 160 nautical miles from Gaza and that jamming \u201cbriefly disrupted our location, but our tracker is functioning again\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, activists aboard the vessel have said they will continue their journey \u201cuntil the last minute\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll stay mobilised until the last minute \u2014 until Israel cuts the internet and networks,\u201d European parliament member Rima Hassan told AFP<\/em> from the boat. \u201cThere are twelve of us civilians on board. We are not armed. There is only humanitarian aid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hassan voiced concern over the lack of official response from countries whose citizens are part of the crew.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo state has responded. The message being sent is that Israel is being allowed to act with impunity, without any guarantee of protection for us,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Hassan said that the activists have \u201cless than 24 hours\u201d before they are detained by Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we are no longer able to communicate with you, I\u2019m counting on you to continue the mobilisation that has been so valuable to us throughout this journey,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Nationals of Germany, France, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands are on the boat.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not scared of them,\u201d said German human rights activist Yasemin Acar, also on board. \u201cThe message they have been sending us, that we cannot come closer, is not making us step back.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Sunday, French Minister for Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad Laurent Saint-Martin said that France was obliged to ensure \u201cconsular protection\u201d for its nationals aboard the Madleen.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe six French citizens on this boat are entitled to consular protection,\u201d he told a state TV channel.<\/p>\n

The conflict was sparked by Hamas\u2019s October 7, 2023 attack<\/a> on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP<\/em> tally of official figures.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the health ministry in Gaza said that the overall toll for the Gaza war had reached 54,880, the majority being civilians. The UN considers these figures reliable.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Israeli forces have boarded a charity vessel attempting to reach the Gaza Strip in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said early on Monday. The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian FFC, had departed from Sicily on June 6 and had hoped to reach Gaza later in the day, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2025\/06\/09074534e2c84d0.jpg?r=074821","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pakistan"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}