An Israeli soldier with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg (R) after several vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla "have been safely stopped and their passengers being transferred to an Israeli port.". Israel's foreign ministry. AFP
In a statement, the Islamic Resistance Movement said Israeli naval forces carried out a “treacherous assault” against the flotilla, which was carrying humanitarian aid, activists, and journalists on its way to the besieged Gaza Strip.
It accused Israel of deliberately targeting international solidarity activists whose mission was to deliver urgent aid to Palestinians subjected to “genocide and systematic starvation for two years.”
“This brutal aggression must be condemned by all free peoples of the world,” Hamas said, saluting the activists’ determination to break the blockade on Gaza. The movement called for worldwide demonstrations and popular rallies to denounce Israel’s actions and demand an end to what it termed crimes of genocide and starvation.
The statement urged the United Nations and the broader international community to assume their “legal and moral responsibilities,” protect the flotilla activists, and move to hold Israeli leaders accountable for ongoing crimes against humanity.
The interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla comes nearly two years into Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which killed over 66,100 Palestinians, mostly children and women, wounded nearly 170,000, displaced the majority of the strip’s 2.3 million residents, and deepened a humanitarian catastrophe under siege.
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