Israel detains Freedom Flotilla ships for eight consecutive days

Israel detains Freedom Flotilla ships for eight consecutive days

 The Israel occupation authority is still holding vessels of the Freedom Flotilla, which they seized on international waters, in its custody, after eight consecutive days of the raid last Monday by Israeli naval forces, which left dozens of peace activists on board dead and injured.
 
Several demands were made by participants of the Freedom Flotilla and representatives from the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, one of the founding members of the Freedom Flotilla coalition, to return the seven ships from the flotilla to their owners, and to deliver all of the aid material on board prepared for the Gaza Strip, which was estimated at ten thousand tons, without any exceptions.
 
German parliamentarian, Ange Hogger, has demanded that Israel return the Freedom Flotilla ships, the very ships which made an attempt to deliver humanitarian aid to the needy, stressing the need to transport aid to the Gaza Strip without delay.
 
Hogger, a left-wing politician who was on board the Freedom Flotilla, said, “Israel must return the Freedom Flotilla vessels which its forces seized back to their owners, and transport their cargo of supplies and aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.”
 
Israeli authorities announced that they released all peace activists on board the Freedom Flotilla, whose number exceeded seven hundred and fifty people from around forty countries; but the fate of the fleet of seven ships, along with the humanitarian aid it was carrying to the Gaza Strip is still unknown.
 
The seven ships which were captured by the Israeli military on international waters are: a cargo ship funded by Kuwait, carrying the Turkish and Kuwaiti flags, a cargo ship funded by Algeria, a European cargo ship funded by Swedish and Greek supporters, an Irish cargo ship belonging to the Free Gaza Movement, and three passenger ships, one of which was called “Boat 8000,” in commemoration of the number of prisoners in Israeli jails, belonging to the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza.  The largest passenger ship, the Blue Marmara, belongs to Turkey.
 
Forty four of the 750 passengers on board were government officials from Europe and Arab countries, including ten Algerian lawmakers.  The ships carried more than ten thousand tons of aid, wood, building materials, and one hundred ready-made houses to aid tens of thousands of people who lost their homes in the Israeli war on Gaza in early 2009.  They also carried 500 electric vehicles to aid the ambulant-disabled, especially since the recent war left about 600 people disabled in Gaza.