More than 100 activists, including former Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad, who were aboard aid ships bound for Gaza were released and taken to the Greek island of Crete on Friday, a day after Israeli forces seized their vessels in international waters near Greece.
The activists were part of a second Global Sumud Flotilla, launched in recent months in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance.
The ships set sail from the Spanish port of Barcelona on April 12.
On Friday, an Israeli army ship transferred 168 members of the flotilla crew to Greek boats, which then took them to shore, where buses and an ambulance waited for them, organisers said and Reuters footage showed.
Before communications were jammed, former senator Ahmad posted videos to social media platform X saying, “Flotilla under attack, Israeli terrorist army has captured 11 of our boats.”
On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on X that the former senator, “who was unlawfully detained by Israeli occupying forces along with other humanitarian workers aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, has been released”.
“I thank the Hellenic authorities for facilitating former Senator Mushtaq Khan at Crete, Greece. I also express my deep gratitude to the leadership and the government of Turkiye for facilitating his return to Istanbul for onward travel to Pakistan,” he added.
Dar also expressed appreciation for the “effective response by Foreign Office and our embassy in Athens” on the matter.
“I reiterate my strongest possible condemnation of the illegal detention of humanitarian workers aboard the flotilla as well as obstruction of humanitarian aid destined for the besieged people of Gaza.
“Pakistan has been and will continue to extend unequivocal support for our Palestinian brothers and sisters,” he added.
Two activists held
Two activists aboard the flotilla were detained by Israeli authorities, according to statements from Israel and the organisers of the flotilla, who identified them as Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila.
Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, accused Israel of illegally arresting Abu Keshek and demanded his immediate release.
Israel’s foreign ministry said Abu Keshek was suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organisation and Avila was suspected of illegal activity, adding that both would be taken to Israel for questioning.
In a post on their Telegram channel, organisers of the flotilla alleged that activists had been denied adequate food and water and “forced to sleep on floors that were deliberately and repeatedly flooded” aboard an Israeli naval vessel, describing their treatment as “40 hours of calculated cruelty”.
It said some suffered injuries, including broken noses and cracked ribs, when they were kicked and dragged across the deck with their hands tied after they tried to protest against the detention of their two fellow activists.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the allegations of mistreatment.
But, Israel’s foreign ministry called the flotilla organisers “professional provocateurs” and “Israel will not allow the breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza”.
Germany’s and Italy’s foreign ministries issued a joint statement saying they were following developments with “deep concern”.
A source who asked not to be identified said that while 22 boats had been intercepted by Israel, 47 others were still sailing off southern Crete and planned to anchor there at some point before continuing onwards to Gaza. Each ship is carrying about a ton of food, medical and other equipment, the source said.
The 22 vessels were seized by Israel late on Wednesday in international waters off Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, which is hundreds of miles from Gaza, the flotilla’s organisers said.
In a statement on Thursday, the US State Department threatened “to impose consequences” against those who support the flotilla, which it cast as pro-Hamas.
Pro-Palestinian activists say Israel and the US wrongly conflate their advocacy for Palestinian rights as support for Hamas.
Last October, Israel’s military halted a previous flotilla assembled by the same organisation, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 participants. That followed other seaborne attempts to reach blockaded Gaza.
Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching Gaza are still insufficient, despite a ceasefire reached in October that included guarantees of increased aid.
Most of Gaza’s more than two million people have been displaced, many now living in bombed-out homes and makeshift tents pitched on open ground, roadsides, or atop the ruins of destroyed buildings.
Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its residents.
International condemnation
Pakistan and 10 other countries have condemned the “Israeli assault” on the Global Sumud Flotilla, which they said was as a peaceful civilian humanitarian initiative aimed at drawing the attention of the international community to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
A joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye, Brazil, Jordan, Spain, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Maldives, South Africa and Libya said the Israeli attacks against the vessels and the unlawful detention of humanitarian activists in international waters constituted “flagrant violations of international law and international humanitarian law”.
Madrid blasted the seizure and said it had summoned Israel’s charge d’affaires in Spain.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused Israel of “once again violating international law by attacking a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it”, urging the EU to freeze bilateral ties.
Flotilla organiser, meanwhile, termed the Israeli action “piracy”.
“This is the unlawful seizure of human beings on the open sea near Crete, an assertion that Israel can operate with total impunity, far beyond its own borders, with no consequences,” the said in a statement.