Breaking News: Blockade-Busting Boat Heads for Gaza

The ship leading a Gaza-bound flotilla that aims to break the naval blockade reportedly left the Greek isle of Crete early Friday morning, after unspecified delays.

Palestinian armed groups fired 4881 rockets and 1753 mortars towards Israel, killing six civilians and injuring at least 1600. That frontier has been largely quiet since the Gaza war previous year in which more than 2,100 Palestinians and 73 on the Israeli side were killed.

In a statement made today, party leader Lapid described the activists aboard Freedom Flotilla III as “supporters of terrorist organisations” acting disguised as human rights advocates.

As a non-member of the ICC, Israel is under no obligation to cooperate, regardless of worldwide pressure to do so. “Adolescents here are at huge risk of losing hope and we face the danger of losing a whole generation of kids who decide they have nothing to lose and potentially get involved in militant activities”, said Ms. Pernille Ironside, head of UNICEF’s Gaza field office.

“In the past, the French used to discuss these things with us in advance”, complained an Israeli diplomat. Ghattas’ participation sparked a spirited two-hour debate in the Knesset, the Jerusalem Post reported.

Israeli-Arab MK Basel Ghattas set sail for the Gaza Strip on Friday in an attempt to break the Gaza blockade. The fallout from Israel’s Operation Protective Edge in Gaza in the summer of 2014 was also cited.

The worldwide Criminal Court’s top prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, began a preliminary examination into possible crimes committed in last year’s Gaza war and other actions in the West Bank.

“If you don’t like it here, you are welcome to leave”.

The ministry had been working “through diplomatic channels night and day” to prevent it from reaching Israeli waters, she said.

“It’s unthinkable that from this abode, people will go out and participate in terror flotillas against the State of Israel”, Mazuz continued, attempting to construe the nonviolent act of protest as a form of “terrorism”.

In addition to the attacks on fighters and civilians alike, the Israeli offensive on Gaza has left a nightmarish landscape of ruined buildings and destroyed physical infrastructure.

The Israeli government said that it was regrettable that the United Nations inquiry did not highlight the “profound difference between Israel’s moral behaviour” and that of “the terror organisations it confronted”. The flotilla is not illegal.

Speaking from on board the Marianne, Israeli-born Swedish activist Dror Feiler said “there are no weapons or ammunition” on the ship. “It’s someone who knows what they’re doing”.

“There are dark forces that are trying to stop us”, he told Radio Ashams, without elaborating.