This former Norwegian trawler carries medical equipment, foodstuffs, stuffed animals for children and medicines.
The Handala boat, exploited by the Propalestinian movement “flotilla for freedom”, arrived in Israel on Sunday after being intercepted by the Israeli army while it was heading towards Gaza with humanitarian aid, an AFP journalist in Ashdod said.
The members of his crew were apprehended by the Israeli authorities. The Israeli NGO Adalah told AFP to have sent lawyers to the port of Ashdod, in southern Israel, and demanded that they be able to speak to the passengers of the boat. “”Despite repeated requests, the Israeli authorities refused Adalah lawyers access to activists detained in order to provide them with legal assistanceShe adds.
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The Handala left the Italian port of Syracuse on July 13. On board, 19 activists of various nationalities, including two elected officials from the French Radical Left Party La France Insoumise (LFI), Gabrielle Cathala and Emma Fourreau, as well as two journalists. This former Norwegian trawler carries medical equipment, foodstuffs, stuffed animals for children and medicines.
«The ship was intercepted in international waters and their detention constitutes a blatant violation of international lawThe NGO Adalah denounced. Before being arrested, members of the Handala crew declared in a message published on X that they would start a hunger strike if the Israeli army intercepted the boat and stopped its passengers.
The initiative comes six weeks after the departure of Madleen, another ship from the flotilla, left of Italy on June 1. This sailboat then had 12 activists on board including the ecologist Greta Thunberg and MEP LFI Rima Hassan, who had been held three days after the interception of the ship, about 185 kilometers west of the Gaza coast.
