Lawyers of the human rights group Adalah on Tuesday said they were able to meet with 10 of the 12 detained members who were on board the Madleen, a civilian-led aid boat to Gaza and updated that four of them have been deported and eight remain in Israeli custody.
FFC confirmed the names of four crew members who have been deported as Baptiste Andre and Omar Faiad from France, Greta Thunberg from Sweden and Sergio Toribio from Spain. Each of the volunteers was given two options: sign documents consenting to deportation, or remain in detention and appear before a tribunal.
Israeli forces seized control of the aid vessel on Monday. The British-flagged boat, which is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was attempting to deliver a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Israel is handling the custody of all 12 members of the Madleen aid flotilla that was intercepted by Israel as though they had entered illegally, even though “they were forcibly abducted from international waters and brought into Israel against their will”, according to a statement by Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC).
“All of them explicitly disputed the claim of unlawful entry in writing, affirming that Israeli law does not apply to them, that their mission was humanitarian in nature, and that both the boat’s interception and their detention are illegal,” a statement by FFC said.
Suayb Ordu (Turkey), Mark van Rennes (The Netherlands), Pascal Maurieras (France), Reva Viard (France), Rima Hassan (France), Thiago Avila (Brazil), Yanis Mhamdi (France) and Yasemin Acar (Germany) are the volunteers in detention.
The siezure of Madleen has sparked global outrage with protests breaking out across European cities.
