Israeli defense minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday, June 8, after ordering the Army to prevent the arrival of a humanitarian ship with activists on board, including Swedish ecological activist Greta Thunberg and Mep Rima Hassan, in the Gaza Strip devastated by the war.
“I gave Tsahal as an investigation to prevent the Mamleen ship from arriving in Gaza. In the Anti -Semitic and his companions, the voice of the propaganda of the (Palestinian Islamist movement) Hamas, clearly I say: turn around because you will not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement from his office.
The organizers of this expedition aboard the Madleen had said on Saturday that he had reached the Egyptian coast and approached the Gaza Strip, where the war between Israel and Hamas entered his 21 months.
Objective “Break the Israeli block”
The sailboat of the flotilla coalition for freedom left Sicily on June 1 in the direction of Gaza to provide humanitarian aid and “break the Israeli block” imposed on the Palestinian territory, according to the organizers.
“The state of Israel will not allow anyone to break the maritime block of Gaza, whose main objective is to avoid the transfer of weapons to Hamas, a mortal terrorist organization that has our hostages and commits war crimes,” Katz added.
“Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or help terrorist organizations, by sea, air or on the ground,” he said.
The war was caused by the attack on Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, which led to the death of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count established from official data.
Of the 251 kidnapped people, 55 are still retained in the Gaza Strip, of which at least 31 died, according to Israeli authorities.
More than 54,772 Palestinians, mainly civilians, were killed in Israeli military retaliations, according to data from the Ministry of Hamas, considered reliable by the UN.
Source: BFM TV
