\n<\/p>\n
Israel has intercepted 22 out of the 58 aid ships travelling through international waters and bound for the besieged Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n
The ships make up part of a second Global Sumud Flotilla to try in recent months to break an Israeli blockade by carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. They sailed from the Spanish port of Barcelona on April 12.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The vessels were seized by Israel late on Wednesday in international waters off Greece\u2019s Peloponnese Peninsula, hundreds of miles from Gaza, the flotilla\u2019s organisers said on Thursday.<\/p>\n Israel \u201ckidnapped\u201d 211 of the 400 activists taking part in the flotilla, including a Paris city councillor, according to the flotilla\u2019s organisers. Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry had earlier put the number of those detained at 175.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s how world leaders have reacted to the news:<\/p>\n Italy called for the immediate release of Italian nationals on board the flotilla.<\/p>\n Italy \u201ccondemns the seizure of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels \u2026 and calls on Israel to immediately release all the unlawfully detained Italians\u201d, the government said in a statement.<\/p>\n Italy\u2019s ANSA news agency cited sources among the organisers saying 24 Italians had been detained.<\/p>\n In its statement, the government also called for the \u201cfull respect of international law and guarantees on the physical safety of the people on board\u201d.<\/p>\n It said it was \u201ccommitted to continue supplying humanitarian aid to Gaza in the framework of our cooperation and in respect of international law\u201d.<\/p>\n In a joint statement with Italy, Germany said it was following developments regarding the flotilla with \u201cgreat concern\u201d and called for international law to be respected and for \u201crestraint from irresponsible actions\u201d.<\/p>\n Spain\u2019s Foreign Ministry said it \u201cenergetically condemns\u201d Israel\u2019s seizure of the flotilla, which is carrying Spanish nationals.<\/p>\n Madrid has summoned Israel\u2019s charge d\u2019affaires to convey its protest against the detention of the vessels, the ministry added in a statement.<\/p>\n Turkiye\u2019s Foreign Ministry condemned Israel\u2019s seizure of the boats in the flotilla as \u201can act of piracy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBy targeting the Global Sumud Flotilla, whose mission is to draw attention to the humanitarian catastrophe faced by the innocent people of Gaza, Israel has also violated humanitarian principles and international law,\u201d the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n In a post on Telegram, the Palestinian group Hamas condemned the interception, accusing Israel of committing a crime without accountability and calling for the release of those detained.<\/p>\n The flotilla\u2019s organisers condemned Israel\u2019s seizure of its vessels.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is piracy,\u201d they said in a statement. \u201cThis is the unlawful seizure of human beings on the open sea near Crete, an assertion that Israel can operate with total impunity, far beyond its own borders, with no consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cNo state has the right to claim, police, or occupy international waters. Yet, that is exactly what Israel has done, extending its regime of control outward, occupying the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Europe,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n Amnesty International called for the immediate release of the detained activists.<\/p>\n \u201cThe crew of the intercepted vessels must be immediately and unconditionally released,\u201d it said in a statement shared on social media.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile in custody, the Israeli authorities must ensure that all activists are immediately granted access to consular support, treated humanely and protected from torture and other ill-treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry called the flotilla organisers \u201cprofessional provocateurs\u201d and said that its forces acted lawfully.<\/p>\n \u201cDue to the large numbers of vessels participating in the flotilla and the risk of escalation, and the need to prevent the breach of a lawful blockade, an early action was required in accordance with international law,\u201d the ministry said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Israel has intercepted 22 out of the 58 aid ships travelling through international waters and bound for the besieged Gaza Strip. The ships make up part of a second Global Sumud Flotilla to try in recent months to break an Israeli blockade by carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. They sailed from the Spanish […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Italy<\/h2>\n
Germany<\/h2>\n
Spain<\/h2>\n
Turkiye<\/h2>\n
Hamas<\/h2>\n
Global Sumud Flotilla organisers<\/h2>\n
Amnesty International<\/h2>\n
Israel<\/h2>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"