Abida Kahlun
SNN News
Helsinki (Scandinavian News Finland)
Five Finnish citizens were among those detained by Israeli authorities after a large international aid flotilla
heading toward Gaza was intercepted in the Mediterranean, according to the activist group Global Movement to Gaza.
The organisation streamed live video of the detentions as they happened. Roughly 500 people were aboard 40 vessels when Israeli forces began halting the boats on Wednesday.
Late Wednesday evening Finnish time, Israel’s foreign ministry confirmed that several ships had been stopped and their passengers were being transferred to an Israeli port.
The ministry also said that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and others in her group were “safe and healthy.” Thunberg had joined the Global Sumud Flotilla when it departed from Barcelona at the end of August.
Finland’s director general of consular services, Jussi Tanner, said on X that Israel had informed Finland through diplomatic channels that detentions were under way.
One of the first ships intercepted was the Sirius, carrying Finnish doctor Juha Pirhonen. Before being detained,
Pirhonen posted a video on Instagram in which he said he had been “kidnapped” by Israeli forces and appealed to his government to “stop its complicity with genocide and bring me home safe.”
Read more: Finland’s foreign policy and stance on the Middle East
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