Crews aboard Global Sumud Flotilla, who are part of unarmed crews with critical humanitarian aid bound for Gaza, say Israeli naval forces boarded their ships on 1 May and threatened them at gunpoint.
This included Bianca Webb-Pullman and Surya McEwen from the Northern Rivers as well as Ethan Floyd, Zack Schofield, Neve O’Connor, and Cameron Tribe.
Currently, 22 ships have been taken in international waters by Israeli forces and more are expected to be boarded in the next few hours. The Israeli forces are reported to have vandalised, sunk, and left boats adrift after boarding them and illegally removing the crew.
The four boats currently being targeted are on their way to join up with the main fleet stationed in Greek territorial waters.
‘Helen O’Sullivan from the Gold Coast and Violet Coco from Melbourne are two Australians who are on board these boats,’ Subhi Awad, spokesperson for Global Sumud Flotilla Australia, told The Echo.
‘They saw hostile ships and then were surrounded by drones for hours, with their camera going dead a couple of hours ago. We expect them to be kidnapped by Israeli forces at some point in the near future.’
Escapees
When the original 22 boats were captured, it is understood that one boat evaded capture.
‘Sam Watson, grandson of Sammy Watson who started the tent embassy, and Annie Mokotow from the loud Jew Collective managed to escape to Greek waters before they were captured by the Israelis,’ said Mr Awad.
‘I’d like to say that the lengths that Israel has gone to to stop food getting to the people of Gaza is very consistent with the definition of genocide.’
Ethan returned
Yesterday activist Ethan Floyd was returned to Australia ‘after kidnapping and abuse by Israeli forces’ according to a spokesperson from the Global Sumud Flotilla.
‘I joined the flotilla because civilians in Gaza are being cut off from the basics of life – food, medicine, water – and governments have failed to stop that suffering. If harm is being done in our name, ordinary people have to step in and act,’ Ethan told the media.
‘Israel brutally and illegally attacked unarmed humanitarians more than 1,000km from Gaza to stop food reaching starving people. That’s a government determined to kill Palestinians and is consistent with genocide. I witnessed people being shot with pellets. I witnessed people being thrown to the ground, dragged along the ground by their limbs, people being forced to listen to the shouts and screams of people who were being beaten,’ he said.
You can follow the Global Sumud Flotilla at: https://globalsumudflotilla.org/tracker/.
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