Israeli UN envoy calls Gaza aid flotilla ‘PR stunt’: ‘Only interested in provocation’
In a post on X, Danny Danon said, “We will not allow any PR stunt approaching an active war zone to violate our sovereignty.”
Hours after the Israeli Navy intercepted the Gaza aid flotilla carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, the country's United Nations ambassador called it a “PR stunt”.
In a post on X, Danon said, “We will not allow any PR stunt approaching an active war zone to violate our sovereignty.” He said that those who tried to “enter Israeli territory illegally” would be deported “immediately after Yom Kippur.”
“Israel has repeatedly offered ways to peacefully deliver aid to Gaza, but this flotilla is not interested in aid - only provocation,” he added.
Danon also shared a video of the Israeli Navy's final call to the flotilla before it was diverted. In the video, the Navy official is heard saying, “This is the Israel Navy. You are approaching a blockaded zone. If you wish to deliver aid to Gaza, you may do so through the established channels.”
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The clip showed an Israeli official requesting the flotilla to change their course towards the port of Ashdod, saying the aid would “undergo security inspection” there and then be transferred to the Gaza Strip.
The boats of the Gaza aid flotilla were carrying symbolic humanitarian aid to famine-stricken Gaza. They were intercepted by the Israeli Navy and their passengers transferred to an Israeli port, according to the Israel foreign ministry. The foreign ministry said that Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and her friends were "safe and healthy".
“Already several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port. Greta and her friends are safe and healthy,” it said in a post on X.
The activists part of the flotilla said that three of their boats – Sirius, Alma and Adara – had been intercepted 70 nautical miles from the coast of Gaza as they approached the Palestinian territory.
“Beyond the confirmed interceptions, live streams and communications with several other vessels have been lost,” the flotilla organisers said in a statement.
