Three correspondents were detained aboard the Gaza-bound activist flotilla<\/p>\n
International advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has accused Israel of kidnapping journalists traveling on board of the Gaza-bound activist flotilla intercepted by the Israeli Navy on Thursday.
\nThe Israeli forces seized 22 of the 58 boats of the pro-Palestinian Second Sumud Flotilla near the Greek island of Crete, detaining 175 people, according to Israeli officials. The organizers. meanwhile, said that 211 activists were \u201ckidnapped.\u201d\u00a0
\nThe boats sailed from the Spanish port of Barcelona on April 12 with the intention of breaching the Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave.\u00a0
\n\u201cRSF condemns the Israeli army\u2019s abduction of 3 journalists in international waters: Hafedh Mribah (French) & Mahmut Yavuz (Turkish) from Al Jazeera, and Alex Colston (American), a contributor to the outlet Zeteo,\u201d the group wrote on X on Thursday. \u201cThe Israeli army is responsible for their safety,\u201d the RSF added.<\/p>\n
Israel announced it had taken control of 21 out of 58 vessels from the Gaza-bound flotilla, in a piracy operation carried out in international waters about 1,000 km off the coast of occupied Palestine. pic.twitter.com\/Gpa6NOxn3Q\u2014 Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) April 30, 2026 <\/p>\n
The passengers included Margaret Connolly, a physician and a sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly, who told The Journal over the phone on Thursday that the interception of the boats was \u201cabsolutely illegal.\u201d\u00a0
\nSpanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a frequent critic of Israel, accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of violating international maritime law and called on the EU to suspend a trade agreement with the country.\u00a0 Netanyahu thanked the Navy for intercepting a flotilla of \u201cHamas supporters.\u201d Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar dismissed the flotilla as a \u201cPR stunt,\u201d adding that all activists \u201cwho were taken off the vessels were taken off unharmed\u201d and would be offloaded on a shore in Greece.\u00a0
\nIsrael intercepted several such flotillas in the past, including dozens of boats in June 2025, whose passengers included climate activist Greta Thunberg and French politician Rima Hassan.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Three correspondents were detained aboard the Gaza-bound activist flotilla International advocacy group Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has accused Israel of kidnapping journalists traveling on board of the Gaza-bound activist flotilla…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t