Israel stops another Gaza-bound flotilla

Some 145 activists are detained, following another high-profile interception last week.

- BY MELANIE LIDMAN AND RENATA BRITO

ACTIVISTS from the Global Sumud Flotilla, intercepted last week, arrive Wednesday in South Africa.

(THEMBA HADEBE Associated Press)

The Israeli military intercepted a nine-boat flotilla trying to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza early Wednesday in the Mediterranean Sea and detained scores of activists on board, the flotilla organizers and the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry said the 145 activists in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition & Thousand Madleens to Gaza, were in good health and were being brought to Israel before they are deported.

The interception came after nearly 450 activists from a previous, high-profile flotilla — including European lawmakers and climate activist Greta Thunberg — were intercepted on more than 40 boats last week trying to reach Gaza with a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid.

Although most of the activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla have been deported, six of them — from Norway, Morocco and Spain — remain detained in Israel, lawyers representing them said late Tuesday.

The organizers of this latest flotilla decried the new detentions on Wednesday as "arbitrary and unlawful."

The activists on board the nine-vessel group included doctors, at least one member of the European Parliament and several national lawmakers from Turkey, Denmark, France and Belgium.

A passenger list posted on the flotilla's website also shows two Israeli citizens were on board its largest boat, the Conscience.