Mavi Marmara
IDF says it is “prepared to act” as climate activist sails with group attempting to breach blockade of the Strip.
“Whoever comes to demonstrate on the shores of Gaza, we will send them into Gaza and use the ships to evacuate Gaza residents,” said the defense minister.
One of the ships, the Anadolu (Anatolia), has a capacity of 5,500 tons.
Sakir Ozkan Torunlar previously served as Ankara’s consul general in Jerusalem between 2010 and 2013.
It’s unlikely that Jerusalem will jettison its new Arab allies after a wave of normalization agreements, bolstered by its relations with Greece, Cyprus and Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean, in exchange for some recent warm words from the Turkish president.
Judge Solomy Bossa ordered prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to decide by Dec. 2 whether or not to open a probe.
Amira Oron, who previously served as Israel’s chargé d’affaires in Ankara, became the highest-ranking Israeli diplomat from 2010 until 2015, when Turkey expelled Israel’s ambassador in the wake of the “Mavi Marmara” flotilla incident.
A boat full of 17 Gazan protestors affiliated with the “March of Return” was purportedly attempting to breach the Israeli blockade and reach Cyprus carrying a group of Gazans hoping to receive medical care.
The IDF commandos reported being attacked with clubs, knives and metal rods as they descended to the boat on ropes from helicopters, with three soldiers being taken captive.