An AFP journalist watched as dozens of workers from a Gaza-bound aid fleet, which had been blocked by Israeli forces in international waters near Crete, disembarked on the Greek island on Friday.
Athens: An AFP journalist watched as dozens of workers from a Gaza-bound aid fleet, which had been blocked by Israeli forces in international waters near Crete, disembarked on the Greek island on Friday.
Under the protection of the Greek coast guard, about 175 activists were taken in four buses to a town whose name was not disclosed by the authorities.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry earlier said about 175 activists were taken off on more than 20 boats on Thursday. Flotilla organizers have given this number as 211.
“In coordination with the Greek government, the individuals transferred from the flotilla ships to the Israeli ship will be disembarked on the Greek coastline in the coming hours,” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar wrote on X late Thursday, thanking Greece “for its willingness to receive the flotilla participants.”
Several European governments, including those arrested, have called on Israel to free the activists, calling its actions a gross violation of international law.
But the United States supported Israeli officials, calling the flotilla a “stunt”.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said, “The United States expects all of our allies… to take decisive action against this meaningless political stunt by denying port access, docking, departure, and refueling to ships participating in the flotilla.”
Initially composed of more than 50 boats, the purpose of the flotilla, according to organizers, was to break the blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, access to which remains largely restricted despite a fragile ceasefire in effect since October between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas.
