Gaza aid flotilla activists, including former Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad, released after Israeli interception

The activists were part of a second Global Sumud Flotilla, launched in recent months in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance.

The ships set sail from the Spanish port of Barcelona on April 12.

Before communications were jammed, former senator Ahmad posted videos to social media platform X saying, “Flotilla under attack, Israeli terrorist army has captured 11 of our boats.”

On Friday, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on X that the former senator, “who was unlawfully detained by Israeli occupying forces along with other humanitarian workers aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, has been released”.

“I thank the Hellenic authorities for facilitating former Senator Mushtaq Ahmad at Crete, Greece. I also express my deep gratitude to the leadership and the government of Turkiye for facilitating his return to Istanbul for onward travel to Pakistan,” he added.

Dar also expressed appreciation for the “effective response by the Foreign Office and our embassy in Athens” on the matter.

“I reiterate my strongest possible condemnation of the illegal detention of humanitarian workers aboard the flotilla as well as obstruction of humanitarian aid destined for the besieged people of Gaza.

“Pakistan has been and will continue to extend unequivocal support for our Palestinian brothers and sisters,” he added.

Later, former senator Ahmad shared a video on his X account, saying that he was speaking from an airport in Greece, where the activists were initially taken.

He said he and other activists had been “kidnapped by Israel’s terrorist, Zionist army. We were held hostage for around 48 hours, and now, we were handed over to Greek authorities”.

But, he added, two of the hostages were still in Israeli custody. “They are hostages. We demand the release of our comrades.”

He expressed the resolve to continue with the flotilla’s voyages until the end of “blockade, inhuman siege, genocide, and occupation” of Gaza.

“Until Palestine gets freedom, until it gets liberation and the right of self-determination, and until Al-Aqsa, Gaza, and Palestine get freedom, we will continue this struggle,” he said.

Ahmad said they had been “kidnapped” by Israel from international borders, which was a violation of international law. He called on the world to take notice of this violation.

The former senator ended the video with the slogan that represents the call for Palestine’s freedom.

“Free, free Palestine. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” he said.

Two activists aboard the flotilla were detained by Israeli authorities, both Israel and the organisers of the flotilla said, identifying them as Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila.

Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, accused Israel of illegally arresting Abu Keshek and demanded his immediate release.

Israel’s foreign ministry said Abu Keshek was suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organisation and Avila was suspected of illegal activity, adding that both would be taken to Israel for questioning.

In a post on their Telegram channel, organisers of the flotilla alleged that activists had been denied adequate food and water and “forced to sleep on floors that were deliberately and repeatedly flooded” aboard an Israeli naval vessel, describing their treatment as “40 hours of calculated cruelty”.

It said some suffered injuries, including broken noses and cracked ribs, when they were kicked and dragged across the deck with their hands tied after they tried to protest against the detention of their two fellow activists.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the allegations of mistreatment.

But, Israel’s foreign ministry called the flotilla organisers “professional provocateurs” and “Israel will not allow the breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza”.

Germany’s and Italy’s foreign ministries issued a joint statement saying they were following developments with “deep concern”.

A source who asked not to be identified said that while 22 boats had been intercepted by Israel, 47 others were still sailing off southern Crete and planned to anchor there at some point before continuing onwards to Gaza. Each ship is carrying about a ton of food, medical and other equipment, the source said.

The 22 vessels were seized by Israel late on Wednesday in international waters off Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, which is hundreds of miles from Gaza, the flotilla’s organisers said.

In a statement on Thursday, the US State Department threatened “to impose consequences” against those who support the flotilla, which it cast as pro-Hamas.

Pro-Palestinian activists say Israel and the US wrongly conflate their advocacy for Palestinian rights as support for Hamas.

Last October, Israel’s military halted a previous flotilla assembled by the same organisation, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 participants. That followed other seaborne attempts to reach blockaded Gaza.

Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching Gaza are still insufficient, despite a ceasefire reached in October that included guarantees of increased aid.

Most of Gaza’s more than two million people have been displaced, many now living in bombed-out homes and makeshift tents pitched on open ground, roadsides, or atop the ruins of destroyed buildings.

Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its residents.

Pakistan and 10 other countries have condemned the “Israeli assault” on the Global Sumud Flotilla, which they said was as a peaceful civilian humanitarian initiative aimed at drawing the attention of the international community to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

A joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye, Brazil, Jordan, Spain, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Maldives, South Africa and Libya said the Israeli attacks against the vessels and the unlawful detention of humanitarian activists in international waters constituted “flagrant violations of international law and international humanitarian law”.

Madrid blasted the seizure and said it had summoned Israel’s charge d’affaires in Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused Israel of “once again violating international law by attacking a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it”, urging the EU to freeze bilateral ties.

Flotilla organiser, meanwhile, termed the Israeli action “piracy”.

“This is the unlawful seizure of human beings on the open sea near Crete, an assertion that Israel can operate with total impunity, far beyond its own borders, with no consequences,” the said in a statement.