Detention of aid activists part of Israel’s ‘strategy to starve Palestinians,’ say European lawmakers

The European Parliament’s Left group today strongly condemned Israel’s interception of a Gaza-bound aid ship in international waters and the detention of the activists on board, calling it a “blatant violation of international law.”

“Illegal detention of 12 humanitarian workers and peaceful activists, including The Left MEP Rima Hassan, [is] part of Israel’s wider strategy to starve Palestinians and hide it from the world,” The Left group said in a statement.

Early today, British-flagged ship the Madleen, carrying aid, including food and baby formula, was intercepted and boarded by Israeli occupation forces in international waters before reaching Gaza. It was later towed to an Israeli port.

Expressing its “strongest condemnation” following the interception, the group said the vessel was only carrying humanitarian aid intended for the civilian population of Gaza, which has been subjected to a total blockade and forced starvation since 2 March.

“This interception, carried out outside Israeli territorial waters, constitutes a blatant violation of international law, including maritime and humanitarian law,” it said.

READ: Spain summons top Israeli envoy over Gaza flotilla raid

The statement also underlined that the arrest of the crew members and the confiscation of aid intended for a population in immediate humanitarian distress is “unacceptable, and is clearly part of a wider strategy to starve and massacre Palestinians in Gaza while hiding Israeli war crimes from the world.”

In the statement, French politician Manon Aubry, co-chair of the Left, said the interception took place against a “backdrop of deafening silence from political leaders in Europe and the world” about the plight of Gaza.

“We demand immediate action from European authorities to guarantee the safety of the crew and allow humanitarian aid to enter,” she said.

The statement also called on states, the EU, the UN, and the international community to strongly condemn this “illegal detention,” demand the immediate and unconditional release of all crew members, and urge Israeli authorities to allow immediate and unimpeded entry of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition sent the 18-metre Madleen from Catania, Sicily, Italy, to break the blockade in Gaza and deliver aid.

Those on board include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi and Reva Viard from France, Thiago Avila from Brazil, Suayb Ordu from Turkiye, Sergio Toribio from Spain, Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France.

The ship is carrying urgently needed supplies for the people of Gaza, including baby formula, flour, rice, nappies, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and children’s prosthetics, according to its organisers.

READ: French MPs denounce Israel’s ‘illegal’ interception of Gaza-bound aid ship