The blockade has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe where starvation threatens the lives of the besieged enclave’s 2.1 million population, especially infants.
Israel deported Al Jazeera Mubasher’s journalist, Omar Fayyad, along with activists who sailed aboard the Gaza-bound Madleen ship on Tuesday after detaining them and raiding the vessel.
The ship was part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which attempted to break Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip under the ongoing genocidal war on the territory.
Israeli naval forces attacked the ship on Monday morning and seized the aid it carried, which included baby formula. The Israeli forces then forced the ship’s 12-member crew to sign deportation documents after their unlawful detention.
Israel has so far deported Fayyad, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, French national Baptiste Andre, and Spanish national Sergio Toribio.
The other activists, including Palestinian-French Member of the European Parliament, Rima Hassan, have yet to sign the letter.
Fayyad revealed new details about Israel’s unlawful attack on the vessel to Al Jazeera upon his arrival at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. He said occupation forces rapidly attacked the ship without prior warning despite them being in international waters.
“We were confined inside the boat for about a day. That day, all they [Israeli occupation forces] did was try to give us food and water on the condition that they took a picture of us in the process,” Fayyad told the broadcaster.
Fayyad said he was in a room with Thunberg for an entire day where he witnessed occupation forces psychologically torture her.
“Whenever she wanted to sleep or lean her head against the wall, an [Israeli] officer would come and yell ‘Greta, do not sleep this is prohibited.’”
Thunberg told reporters in Paris that Israel kidnapped her and the rest of the crew, noting their condition was incomparable “to what Palestinians have to endure on a daily basis”.
“The real story is that there is a genocide going on in Gaza and a systematic starvation following the siege and blockade now,” she said.
Howaida Arraf, a human rights lawyer and flotilla organiser, described Israel’s attack as an act of “illegal piracy” in a statement to The International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza.
The mission comes in response to Israel’s illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip, which completely prevented the entry of aid into the territory since March 2. The FFC also triggered similar acts globally, including the Tunisian-led Sumud Convoy that is bound for Gaza.
The blockade has resulted in a humanitarian catastrophe where starvation threatens the lives of the besieged enclave’s 2.1 million population, especially infants. Palestinians are forced to stand in long lines to access any form of food while Israel attacks aid distribution gatherings.
On Monday, the United Nations agency for Palestine (UNRWA) slammed Israel’s aid distribution mechanisms as “death traps”.
“Another day of death traps. Day after day, casualties and scores of injured are reported at distribution points manned by Israel and private security companies,” Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s Commissioner-General, said on X.
Meanwhile, Israel has killed more than 61,700 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the genocide on October 7, 2023, according to a revised figure by the local health ministry.
However, the figure is believed to be significantly higher, with thousands trapped under the rubble and as local authorities struggle to keep count of the daily killings under Israel’s relentless bombardment.
