The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has said the Israeli military has boarded its Gaza-bound aid ship carrying Greta Thunberg and that communication with the boat has been lost. <\/p>\n
The group posted a photo on Telegram early Monday local time, showing members of the crew of the \u201cMadleen\u201d sitting inside the boat wearing lifejackets and with their hands in the air. No Israel Defense Force soldiers can be seen in the image. <\/p>\n
In an earlier post, the FFC said the ship had come \u201cunder assault in international waters.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cQuadcopters are surrounding the ship, spraying it with a white paint-like substance. Communications are jammed, and disturbing sounds are being played over the radio,\u201d FFC said on its Telegram channel. <\/p>\n
Israel has repeatedly vowed to stop the aid boat from reaching Gaza. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have instructed the IDF to ensure that the \u2018Madleen\u2019 flotilla does not reach Gaza,\u201d Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said on Sunday. <\/p>\n
In a video livestreamed from the boat and posted by the FFC, activist Yasmin Acar showed a white substance on the deck, saying it had been dropped on the vessel. Acar was later heard saying it was affecting her eyes. Before the live stream ended, Acar could be heard saying the Israeli military was communicating with the board <\/p>\n
Israel vowed on Sunday to stop the aid boat carrying Thunberg and other activists on board from reaching Gaza. <\/p>\n
The \u201cMadleen\u201d is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an organization that has campaigned against Israel\u2019s blockade of Gaza and tried to break the siege by boat. <\/p>\n
Climate activist Thunberg, \u201cGame of Thrones\u201d actor Liam Cunningham and Rima Hassan \u2013 a French member of the European Parliament – are among those on the Madleen. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry posted video on X showing a Navy staffer issuing what appears to be a radio message to the vessel. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to maritime traffic,\u201d the unidentified Navy staff member is heard saying. She is later heard saying aid needs to be delivered through \u201cestablished channels.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a statement, the ministry said \u201cunauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cWe call on all actors to act responsibly and to channel humanitarian aid through legitimate, coordinated mechanisms, not through provocation,\u201d the ministry added in a statement on Monday local time. <\/p>\n
This is a developing story and will be updated. <\/em> <\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has said the Israeli military has boarded its Gaza-bound aid…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17724,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailywashingtoninsider.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}