Israel intercepts the 'Handala' ship in international waters and holds the 21 activists trying to reach Gaza to break the blockade
Lawyers for Freedom Flotilla activists report that Israel won't let them see it. "The ship was intercepted in international waters and its capture is a clear violation of international law."
The Freedom Flotilla coalition has reported that the Israeli Army stopped the Handala ship on its way to Gaza last midnight in order to break the Israeli blockade and provide humanitarian aid.
"Israeli occupation forces have stopped Handala ," the organization has written in account X. Previously, one of the crew members, the Franco-Swedish MP of the European Parliament, Emma Fourreau, wrote on the same social network that the Israeli Army had boarded the ship in international waters 115 kilometres off the coast of Gaza.
A few minutes after the warning, the Flotilla has subsequently released a series of other pre-recorded videos of each of the crew members of Handala explaining that they have been "abducted" by Israel, indicating that they have been "illegally intercepted and abducted" by the Israeli Army and calling on the Government of their country to intervene to release him and the other pro-Palestinian activists on board.
On the other hand, lawyers representing activists from the Israeli Freedom Fleet have reported on Sunday that the Israeli authorities have not allowed them to meet with detainees since their arrival at the port of Ashdod (centre), the Palestinian legal organization Adalah reported in a statement.
"Despite repeated requests, the Israeli authorities have refused to allow Adalah's lawyers to enter to provide legal assistance to detainees," the statement says.
The organization has claimed that the Handal of the Flotilla, which was sailing to Gaza full of activists, spent 12 hours at sea after being boarded by the Israeli Army, until Israel has reported its arrival at the port of Ashdod.
"The vessel was intercepted in international waters and its retention is a clear violation of international law, "Adalah has denounced.
The flotilla reported late on Saturday that the Handala had been arrested 40 nautical miles (about 74 kilometers) off the coast of the Gaza Strip. Adalah, for his part, stressed in another statement that the Flotilla "never entered Israeli waters, nor was it ever intended".
According to Adalah, at 23:43 local time (20:43 GMT) on Saturday, Israeli forces shut down the cameras installed on the ship, which transmitted directly, and since then all communication with the ship has been lost.
Handala left Syracuse, Italy, on 13 July, for the Gaza Strip to break the blockade imposed by Israel on the humanitarian agency in the enclave. The famine, the direct result of the humanitarian aid crisis, has further aggravated the situation in Gaza, where malnutrition deaths have exceeded 130 since October 2023.
On board the Handala were 21 activists, who are currently in detention: six Americans, four French, two Italians, two Spaniards, two Australians, one Norwegian, one Tunisian, one French British citizen, one Moroccan and one German-American.
On 9 June, Israel attacked another Freedom Fleet vessel, the Madleen, in international waters, arresting all crew members.
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