A Lurgan woman is among a number of Irish citizens being held by Israeli forces after an aid flotilla bound for Gaza was intercepted in international waters.
Helena Kearns was detained on board the Global Sumud Flotilla, which organisers say was carrying humanitarian aid as part of an effort to challenge Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza.
Sinn Féin Upper Bann MLA John O’Dowd said he had been in contact with Helena’s family and expressed his “full support and solidarity” with the Lurgan woman following what he described as her “illegal detention by Israeli forces”.
“Hundreds of brave participants set out to break Israel’s horrific blockade and deliver vital aid to Gazans who are desperately in need,” he said.
“It is time for both the Irish and British governments to take decisive action to hold the Israeli regime to account for the daily horror inflicted on the people of Palestine.
“The international community must step in to ensure those illegally arrested are protected and released immediately.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) said on Tuesday that more than 50 boats were intercepted in international waters west of Cyprus, around 250 nautical miles (460km) from Gaza. Video streamed by the group appeared to show armed commandos boarding vessels.
The flotilla’s organisers called it “another illegal, high-seas aggression”. Israel maintains that its maritime blockade of Gaza is a security measure aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the naval raid had “effectively neutralised a malicious plan designed to break the isolation we have imposed on Hamas terrorists in Gaza”.
Newry and Armagh MLA Cathal Boylan also condemned the operation, describing “Israel’s illegal interception of the Gaza-bound Sumud Flotilla and the kidnapping of activists aboard by armed Israeli forces as another brazen violation of international law”.
“This latest seizure of boats and the kidnapping of activists attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza is yet another brazen violation of international law by Israel,” he said.
“The ongoing, genocidal blockade of Gaza is an outrage that world leaders tolerate. It is due to this moral cowardice that activists have bravely taken it upon themselves to attempt to break the siege.
“This was a mission of mercy which the Israeli forces have aggressively and violently intercepted.”
Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald TD, speaking in Dublin, said it was “not the first time Israel has criminally prevented peaceful humanitarian activists from delivering desperately needed food and medicine to the people of Gaza”.
She said at least six of those detained were Irish citizens, including Dr Margaret Connolly, sister of Uachtarán na hÉireann (President of Ireland) Catherine Connolly.
“The impunity afforded to Israel by the International Community must end. Ireland must take the lead in confronting it,” she added.
“The Dublin Government must intervene immediately and act to hold Israel to account for its blatant abuse of human rights. This must include passing the Occupied Territories Bill and pushing hard for the immediate scrapping of the EU–Israel Trade Agreement.”
