Australian Government Prepared to Help After Six Australians Detained in Gaza Flotilla

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Six Australians in the Gaza aid flotilla have been detained by the Israeli military after their vessels were intercepted about 70km from the enclave’s coastline, flotilla organisers say.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of more than 40 civilian boats and carrying 500 activists, legislators, and a symbolic amount of aid, was intercepted by the Israeli navy in the early hours of Thursday AEST.

The organisers said Australians Surya McEwen, Abubakir Rafiq, Hamish Paterson, Juliet Lamont, Bianca Webb-Pullman and Dan Coward have been detained in international waters and remain in Israeli custody.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) said it was liaising with Israeli authorities and was on standby to assist the detainees.

“Australia calls on all parties to respect international law, to ensure the safety and humane treatment of those involved,” a spokesperson said.

“We understand that people want to help deliver aid to those suffering in Gaza — we also want to see critical aid delivered.

“We repeat our call on Israel to enable the sustained, unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”

DFAT said it had previously issued warnings to Australians not to attempt to breach the naval blockade because of the safety risks.

Families of Australians speak out

Flotilla organisers earlier called on the federal government to use “all diplomatic and economic tools” to ensure the group’s release unharmed.

“We implore the Australian government to use every effort to keep them safe. To demand Israel release all six Australians immediately and unharmed,” McEwen’s mother, Jacinta McEwen, said.

They said the military used aggressive tactics, including the use of water cannon, but that no-one was harmed.

Paterson’s mother, Judy Paterson, told SBS her son had messaged her about 6am saying they were “going really well”.

“It’s like a cat-and-mouse game,” she said.

“He’s dodging and weaving his boat away from the IOF boat, the Israeli occupying force’s boat, it’s firing water cannons all over the … flotilla.”

While she was fearful for her son’s safety, Paterson said she was “incredibly proud” of his actions.

“[I’m] incredibly proud of his humanitarian values and what he is prepared to speak up and stand up for,” she said.

A protest organised by Students for Palestine briefly blocked traffic outside Melbourne’s Flinders Street railway station on Thursday night, while speakers addressed a crowd of approximately 200 people.

Flotilla’s communications jammed

Organisers said the flotilla’s communications were jammed before boarding started, which interfered with cameras providing live streams from various boats and communications between vessels.

They said several of their vessels had been boarded by Israeli forces, including the Spectre, Alma, Sirius and others.

Swedish political activist Greta Thunberg was escorted off the Alma ship and taken into custody.

The Israeli foreign ministry posted a video on X showing Thunberg’s arrest.

It said several vessels of the flotilla had been “safely stopped” and their passengers were being “transferred to an Israeli port”, adding that “Greta and her friends are safe and healthy”.

Several activists posted pre-recorded videos to social media, in which they said they had been “kidnapped” by the Israeli military.

Multiple Australians are part of the flotilla, including Juliet Lamont, who described her experience as Israel started intercepting some boats.

Lamont said about 30 Israeli boats had surrounded the flotilla and were pounding some of its vessels with water cannons before attempting to board.

“I can feel that my heart is going, like the clappers, and I should be feeling, normally your body gives yourself those signals, so you should be freaking out,” she told ABC’s RN Breakfast.

“But I feel remarkable, Calm. I’ve never been intercepted.

“It does seem at this stage they are unprepared to sink the vessels or to kill anyone.”

“We’ve just got to keep steadfast, keep dodging them, keep moving forward.”

Bianca Webb-Pullman, another one of six Australians aboard the flotilla, was reportedly on a vessel that was rammed by Israeli forces.

Sydney man Abubakir Rafiq is believed to have been travelling on the Spectre when it was intercepted in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has advised Australians not to travel to Gaza since the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel in 2023, which led to an escalation of the conflict engulfing the Palestinian enclave. It has added specific advice around sea access to the besieged Strip.

“There is no sea access to Gaza. Israel has a naval blockade in place along the coast of Gaza. Don’t join others seeking to break the blockade,” DFAT’s Smartraveller website says. “Previous attempts to break the blockade have resulted in death, injury, arrest or deportation of foreigners.”

Before the interceptions, assistant foreign affairs minister Matt Thistlethwaite said he was concerned about the safety of Australians on the flotilla and called on Israel to refrain from “any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla”.

Organisers say flotilla ‘will continue undeterred’

According to the flotilla’s own ship tracking data, a total of 13 boats had been intercepted or stopped as of Thursday.

Organisers have remained defiant, saying in a statement that the flotilla “will continue undeterred”.

Thirty boats were still sailing towards Gaza, the flotilla said in a post on Telegram early on Thursday, adding they were 46 nautical miles away from their destination.

The flotilla had hoped to arrive in Gaza on Thursday if it was not intercepted.

World reacts to Israel’s interception

Protests broke out in Brussels, Berlin, Athens, Rome and Tunis overnight in response to the Israeli intervention against the flotilla.

In Berlin, protesters swarmed the Berlin Central Station and chanted slogans like “Free Palestine”.

A woman raises her fist against the backdrop of the Palestinian flag during a protest.

Demonstrators protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people and over Israel’s navy intervention against the Global Sumud Flotilla outside the foreign affairs ministry, in Athens, Greece. Source: AAP / EPA / Orestis Panagiotou

Thousands of people took to the streets in Italy to protest against Israel’s interception of the flotilla, which has an Italian contingent on board.

Italian unions called a general strike for Friday in solidarity with the flotilla, prompting Italy’s far-right deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini to threaten compulsory employment measures in response.

Irish political party Sinn Féin said senator Chris Andrews, who was on board the flotilla, had been “illegally detained” by the Israeli military.

Türkiye’s foreign ministry called Israel’s “attack” on the flotilla “an act of terror” that endangered the lives of civilians.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that a free trade agreement with Israel would be terminated, and said Israeli diplomats in Colombia would be expelled.

Petro, an opponent of the Gaza war, said two Colombian nationals participating in the flotilla were detained by Israel.

“If the information is true, this is a new international crime by [Benjamin] Netanyahu,” Petro wrote on X. “The foreign ministry should make all the respective demands, including within the Israeli justice system.”

Amnesty International United Kingdom called on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to denounce Israel’s actions.

“Reports that Israeli forces have intercepted the Gaza flotilla mark yet another shameful chapter in the brutal and merciless enforcement of Israel’s illegal and immoral 18-year blockade of Gaza and is an attack on international law and basic humanity,” said Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s director of communications.

“Keir Starmer has a serious role to play. With British citizens and British-flagged ships involved, he must not revert to silence as usual.”

It is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of the enclave, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war.

The Israeli foreign ministry earlier said its navy had reached out to the flotilla to warn it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked them to change course.

The ministry said it reiterated its offer to transfer aid peacefully through safe channels to the Gaza Strip.

Thursday’s incident is the second time the flotilla has been approached in 24 hours.

The mission’s organisers earlier said two Israeli “warships” had approached fast and encircled two of the flotilla’s boats.

All navigation and communication devices went down in what one organiser on board described as a “cyber attack”.

A video post on the flotilla’s Instagram page showed the silhouette of what appeared to be a military vessel with a gun turret near the civilian boats.

Reuters confirmed the video was filmed from the flotilla but could not confirm the identity of the other vessel in the video or when it was taken.

Israel did not comment on that attack but has said it will use any means to prevent the boats from reaching the Gaza Strip, arguing that its naval blockade is legal as it battles Hamas militants in the coastal enclave.

Italy and Spain deployed naval ships to help with any rescue or humanitarian needs, but stopped following the flotilla once it got within 278km of the Strip for safety reasons.

— With additional reporting by Reuters and the Australian Associated Press