Free Mandela, says SA

CAPTIVE: SA ACTIVISTS AMONG THOSE FROM FLOTILLA HELD BY ISRAEL → Boats carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza intercepted.

- Faizel Patel

CHANGE COURSE. A boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla is intercepted by Israeli forces in the Mediterranean Sea off the Gaza Strip and escorted towards the southern port of Ashdod yesterday.

(AFP)

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on Israel to release activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, including Mandla Mandela.

The grandson of former South African president and global anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela was among those on the flotilla intercepted by Israeli navy vessels on Wednesday.

The flotilla comprises vessels seeking to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Israeli navy is reported to have surrounded the ships at sea, which had a cargo of aid for the war-battered Palestinian territory.

Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said Israel's interception in international waters off the coast of Gaza "reinforces Israel's continued violation of international law and infliction of suffering, including starvation, on the Palestinian people".