Al -Jazeera Net Correspondents
Istanbul- The head of the International Committee to break the siege on Gaza, Zahir Al -Barawi, expressed his strong condemnation of the Israeli occupation forces storming a ship.Madeleine“Found to Gaza Strip The besieged, describing what happened as “a full -fledged marine piracy, state terrorism, and flagrant violation of international law.”
In an exclusive interview with Al -Jazeera Net, Al -Barawi said, “The occupation state is trying to promote a false human image in its dealings with international activists, while the pictures of the martyrs of the solidarity movement are still in memory, such as Rachel Corrie Tom Hernal and James Miller, who paid their lives in defense of the Palestinian people.
Korean, Herndal and Miller are 3 prominent Western personalities who were killed in Palestine During their solidarity with the Palestinian people in 2003 and 2004, they became international symbols of civil resistance and the struggle for human rights.
The fate of the solidarity
Al -Barawi explained that the ICRC is following the fate of the international solidarity who were kidnapped by the Israeli commando forces, expressing his hope that they will be fine, and added that there are expectations that the procedures for deporting their countries will start today, but the ambiguity still surrounds their place of detention.
Al -Barawi pointed out that the committee’s lawyer has already started taking the usual legal measures in such cases, but they were informed that the information related to the place of detention was “secret”, and activists are likely to be held in a port. Scatter.
He added that the legal team of the “Adalah” Foundation is currently located near a detention center in RamlaAnd it is the center in which the Freedom Flotant volunteers were held in earlier times, and the team works to verify the location of the twelve activists who were on board the ship.
Al -Barawi also revealed that the “Adalah” Foundation has contacted the Israeli military authorities several times since midnight, but it has not received any official response yet. He explained that the committee made contacts with a number of embassies of countries to which the detained solidarity belongs, and some representatives of these embassies have informed that they were following the situation and communicating with the Israeli Foreign Ministry waiting for confirmed information.
Al -Barawi concluded by noting that the Spanish embassy informed a member of the family of a Spanish activist detained that the solidarity was being held in the port of Ashdod, stressing that the committee has updated the families of the detainees with all the information available so far.
Symbolic aid
It was a coalition Freedom Fleet Today, at dawn, the interruption of contact with the “Madeleine” ship, which was heading to Gaza, loaded with a shipment of symbolic humanitarian aid, after the Israeli navy stormed it at sea and took it to the port of Ashdod, detained all of the international activists and journalists on board.
On the other hand, Radio announced Israeli army The marine commando unit carried out the process of “controlling the ship” and took it to Ashdod, noting that passenger identities were verified in preparation for their interrogation at a naval base.
As for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it confirmed in an official statement that “all who were on board the ship is fine,” noting that they will be returned to their countries after completing the procedures, and the ministry mocked the trip, and the ship was described as “a selfie yacht for celebrities.”
The British ship “Madeleine” sailed in early June of the Italian port of Catania, on a symbolic mission aimed at breaking the maritime blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007, and carrying 12 activists of multiple nationalities, along with humanitarian aid that includes food, medicine and medical equipment.
The ship was named “Madeleine” in honor of the first Palestinian girl who professed fishing in Gaza, who lost her father during the Israeli aggression in October 2023, to become a symbol of human resilience in the face of the siege.
UN condemnation
In the same context, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Palestine condemned the maritime blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza, considering that the civil ships in international waters are illegal to international law, unless there are proven security threats.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur in the Palestinian Territories confirmed, Francesca AlbaniziThe ship did not pose any security threat, and that its crew made it clear to the Israeli soldiers that they only carry humanitarian aid, and that they are ready to leave without any confrontation.
Albanizi stressed that Israel does not have any legal authority to object to the ship in international waters, and that this constitutes a clear violation of international covenants.
It is noteworthy that the incident comes about a month after a similar attempt in which the “Coneshins” ship (conscience) of the Freedom Flotilla coalition was attacked by two planes in international waters near Malta On May 2, which caused severe damage to the ship’s introduction without any injuries.