SANAA, Yemen (Kashmir English): Israeli forces have boarded Alma, one of the ships in the Global Sumud Flotilla, said the members.
Kieran Andrieu, aboard the Adara vessel, said on a livestream that nobody has died in the boarding.
Earlier, the Israeli navy warned the Gaza-bound aid flotilla to change course, according to the Israeli foreign ministry, as the vessels approach waters under an Israeli blockade.
“The Israeli Navy has reached out to the … flotilla and asked them to change course,” the ministry said in a statement. “Israel has informed the flotilla that it is approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful naval blockade.”
According to the flotilla organizers, Israeli officials have boarded one of the ships in the convoy, and Israeli forces have detained all members. Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmed is also aboard the flotilla.
Earlier, the organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla announced that they had declared a state of emergency on their ships.
Thiago Avila, a member of the flotilla’s steering committee, said in an audio message sent from his ship, “We are reaching a decisive phase of our mission. At this moment, we are moving closer to their (Israel’s) military blockade.”
He further said, “A large number of Israeli ships are present here, which is consistent with the reports from the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs and media stating that our mission will be illegally stopped tonight, even though our goal is to break the siege and establish a humanitarian corridor.”
Gaza aid ship ‘Madelaine’
According to Arab media, the Global Sumud Flotilla previously stated on its website that the fleet is currently 118 nautical miles from Gaza, which is only 8 miles from the location where the aid ship ‘Madelaine’ was seized by the Israeli army in June.
Zain-ul-Abidin Ozkan, an activist on one of the flotilla’s ships from the Turkish news agency, stated that drones flew over the flotilla throughout the night, and at approximately 5am, the GPS and internet systems of the main boat in the flotilla, named ‘Alma’, were subjected to a cyberattack, disconnecting communication with it.
Turkish activist Metihan Sari, who was on ‘Alma’, said, “This was the biggest harassment we have faced so far. They tried to scare us, but we were not afraid and told them that we would not be scared.”
