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THE LATEST FLOTILLA bound for Gaza has been intercepted by Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.
There were five Irish citizens on board boats in the flotilla.
The boats were attempting to break the Israeli blockade and deliver desperately needed food and medical supplies to the Palestinian territory, where a famine has been declared.
The website that tracks the progress of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens convoy shows that all nine boats have been intercepted.
There were two Irish citizens - author Naoise Dolan and independent TD Barry Heneghan – aboard one of the flotilla boats, the Milad.
There are another three – Fionn MacArthur, Mutaz Jadaan and Veronica O’Keane – who were on board the Conscience.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris confirmed that five Irish citizens were among those detained by Israel.
He said the embassy team in Tel Aviv has been in contact with Israeli authorities and that he now expects the detainees to be transferred to the port of Ashdod, where the last group of activists were taken last week.
Harris said that he expects the activists to be held at a detention facility south of Tel Aviv.
“I expect this to take most of the day. Our Embassy team in Tel Aviv will visit our citizens there as soon as possible,” Harris said.
“Officials from across my Department, including those in embassy Tel Aviv, are actively engaged with the situation and are providing consular assistance to those affected.
“I am due to receive an update from our ambassador to Israel later this morning.”
Speaking in the Dáil today, Harris said the activists were trying to do something about the “humanitarian catastrophe and genocide” in Gaza and that they posed “no threat”.
He denounced their detention as illegal.
Fionn MacArthur has a Youtube channel where he posts videos about crafting and repairing boats, Jadaan is an orthopaedic spine surgeon and a fellow at the Royal College of Surgeons who also holds Jordanian citizenship and O’Keane is a professor of psychiatry at Trinity College Dublin.
In a pre-recorded statement delivered to camera, Heneghan said:
“If you’re seeing this video, we have been intercepted at seas and I’ve been kidnapped by the Israeli occupation forces or forces of a country participating in Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians.”
He appealed to his friends and family to put pressure on the Irish government to secure his immediate release.
Dolan recently spoke to The Journal about making the risky voyage to Gaza.
The FFC said in a statement that three of its boats had been “attacked” by Israeli forces, before adding later that all other boats had been intercepted apart from the Conscience, which is carrying medical personnel and journalists.
The flotilla tracker, however, now shows the Conscience has been intercepted as well.
“Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard these ships,” said David Heap of Canadian Boat to Gaza and Freedom Flotilla Coalition steering committee.
“This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the ICJ’s binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza.
“Our volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade. Their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.”
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a post on social media that the boats had been intercepted and the flotilla participants detained.
“Another futile attempt to breach the legal naval blockade and enter a combat zone ended in nothing,” a ministry statement said.
“The vessels and the passengers are transferred to an Israeli port. All the passengers are safe and in good health. The passengers are expected to be deported promptly.”
Turkey’s foreign ministry has lashed out this morning at the interceptions, calling it an “act of piracy”.
There were several Turkish politicians on board the flotilla boats.
“The intervention in international waters against the Freedom Flotilla… is an act of piracy,” the ministry said in a statement, describing it as “an attack on civil activists, including Turkish citizens and members of parliament”.
Need more information on what is happening in Israel and Palestine? Check out our FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to navigating the news online.
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