Aussies on Thunberg’s Gaza boat demand action amid drone strike
Australian activists have been caught up in the reported drone strike on a boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg that was bound for Gaza. See the video.
Australian activists have been caught up in the reported drone strike on a boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg that was bound for Gaza.
A vessel known as the Family Boat, part of the Swedish climate activist’s Freedom Flotilla, was set ablaze after allegedly being hit in a drone strike
Several Australians are among the 350 activists and aid workers taking part in the controversial convoy.
Just hours before the alleged strike, Dr Bianca Webb-Pullman, a GP from Melbourne and one of several Aussies taking part in the Freedom Flotilla, posted a call to action on Instagram, demanding that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “impose an immediate arms embargo and trade sanctions on Israel”.
Other Australians on board include Juliet and Isla Lamont, a mother and daughter from northern NSW, a scientist named Julia from Tasmania, marketing professional Abubakir Rafiq from Sydney, Hamish Paterson from NSW and support worker Surya McEwen, also from NSW.
Mr Omar, who has a two-year-old and a six-week-old son back home on the Gold Coast, said he was on a mission to deliver food aid to Gaza, where residents have been cut off from food, water and medicine under Israel’s siege.
“I was on the top deck of the familial vessel, which was the main vessel with people like Greta who weren’t on the time,” he said.
“But I was with five others when it was hit by a drone strike… it was like a massive ball of flames that heated my whole face up. Massive fire also on the deck which we put out with fire extinguishers and it’s a miracle everyone survived.”
Ms Thunberg shared a statement by the Global Sumud Flotilla on social media, confirming the attack.
“The Global Sumud Flotilla confirms that one of the main boats, known as the ‘Family Boat’ – that was carrying GSF Steering Committee members – was struck by what is suspected to be a drone,” the statement read.
GSF said all six passengers and crew on-board the boat, which was sailing under the Portuguese flag, are safe.
A video posted by fellow activist Yasemin Acar on Instagram showed the blaze’s aftermath.
“The Family boat has been officially attacked – a drone came right above it, released a bomb and it exploded and the boat was on fire,” she posted. “Everyone on that boat is ok. The fire is out.”
Ms Thunberg is travelling to Gaza along with a flotilla of around 20 boats to deliver food and medicine to Gaza. The flotilla, which left Barcelona last week, is expected to reach its destination by mid-September.
The blaze comes after the European Union said it doesn’t “encourage” aid flotillas heading to Gaza.
“We don’t encourage flotillas like this, because basically they can escalate the situation, and they also put their participants at risk,” EU spokeswoman Eva Hrncirova said.
She said the EU believes the “best way... to deliver the humanitarian aid” is via partner organisations working on the ground.
“This is what we try to achieve, to deliver the humanitarian aid in a larger scale, and we keep the channels with Israel open, and we talk to Israeli authorities,” she said.
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NETANYAHU VISITS JERUSALEM SITE AFTER SIX SHOT DEAD
Palestinian gunmen opened fire at a bus stop in east Jerusalem, killing six people and wounding several others, according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in one of the deadliest anti-Israeli attacks since the outbreak of the Gaza war.
“Palestinian terrorists murdered six Israelis,” Saar said, adding that one of the dead was a recent immigrant from Spain.
Israeli emergency service Magen David Adom (MDA) had earlier reported 15 people wounded in the late morning attack at the Ramot Junction in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, with seven in serious condition. Police said the two gunmen were also killed.
Four of the dead were ultra-Orthodox Israeli men, according to local media. Spain’s foreign ministry condemned the attack, affirming its “commitment to peace in the Middle East”.
At the scene of the attack, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Let it be clear: these murders strengthen our determination to fight terrorism.”
“We are now engaged in pursuit and are cordoning off the villages from which the murderers came. We will apprehend whoever aided and dispatched them, and we will take even stronger steps.”
The Israeli army said troops were “encircling several areas on the outskirts of Ramallah” in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in response to the attack.
French President Emmanuel Macron “strongly condemned the terrorist attack”, as did the United Arab Emirates, while German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described it as “cowardly”.
Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has been at war with Israel in Gaza for nearly two years, praised the attack, saying it was carried out by two Palestinian militants.
“We affirm that this operation is a natural response to the crimes of the occupation and the genocide it is waging against our people,” Hamas said in a statement.
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blamed the attack on the Palestinian Authority, which he claimed “raises and educates its children to murder Jews”.
“The Palestinian Authority must disappear from the map, and the villages from which the attackers came should be reduced to the status of Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” he wrote on X, referring to cities in Gaza that have been devastated by Israeli air strikes.
The PA is a civilian ruling authority in areas of the West Bank, where about three million Palestinians live – as well as around half a million Israelis occupying settlements considered illegal under international law.
Israeli paramedic Fadi Dekaidek, who was at the scene, called the attack “severe”.
“The wounded were lying on the road and sidewalk near a bus stop, some of them unconscious,” he said in a statement issued by MDA.
Paramedic Fadi Dekaidek, who was at the scene, said the attack was “severe”.
“The wounded were lying on the road and sidewalk near a bus stop, some of them unconscious,” he said in a statement issued by MDA.
Police said the attackers had opened fire towards a bus stop after arriving in a vehicle.
“A security officer and a civilian at the scene responded immediately, returned fire, and neutralised the attackers,” they said in a statement.
Police said the attackers opened fire towards the bus stop after arriving in a vehicle.
“A security officer and a civilian at the scene responded immediately, returned fire, and neutralised the attackers,” they said in a statement.
The shooting was one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since the war in Gaza began after Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed at least 64,522 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
‘GET OUT OF THERE’: NETANYAHU’S WARNING TO GAZA
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his forces have destroyed “50 terror towers” in Gaza City over the past two days referring to high-rise buildings he says have been occupied by Hamas militants.
Mr Netanyahu recorded a video statement from the Israeli Air Force’s operations room in Tel Aviv aka “The Pit” where he vowed it was but a preview of what was to come.
“I promised you a few days ago that we would destroy Gaza’s terror towers. This is exactly what we are doing. In the past two days, 50 of these towers have fallen. The air force brought them down,” Mr Netanyahu said.
“Now all of this is just an introduction, just a prelude, to the main intense operation – a ground manoeuvre of our forces, who are now organising and gathering in Gaza City.
“And so I say to the residents of Gaza, I am taking advantage of this opportunity, and listen to me carefully: You have been warned. Get out of there!”
FINAL WARNING TO ‘HAMAS MURDERERS AND RAPISTS’
Israel’s defence minister told Hamas on Monday to lay down its arms or face annihilation, after US President Donald Trump said the militant group must accept a deal to release hostages in Gaza.
“This is a final warning to the Hamas murderers and rapists in Gaza and in luxury hotels abroad: Release the hostages and put down your weapons – or Gaza will be destroyed and you will be annihilated,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on X.
Israel has stepped up operations, levelling high-rise buildings in Gaza City which it has vowed to capture, despite mounting international pressure to stop the war.
Defence Minister Katz wrote on X that “today, a massive hurricane will hit the skies of Gaza City”, where he said the military was “preparing to expand” operations.
In Gaza City on Monday, bereaved father Issa Suleiman carried the body of his one-year old son, wrapped in a white shroud.
“We were sleeping in the tent with my three children and my wife,” he told AFP, adding that five of his neighbours were killed and several seriously injured, including his wife and mother.
ISRAEL SLAMS SPAIN’S ‘ANTI-SEMITIC’ CAMPAIGN
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announced a series of measures aimed at stopping what he called “the genocide in Gaza”, sparking a furious reaction from Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, who said it was part of an “anti-Semitic campaign”.
Spain hit back, calling the accusations of anti-Semitism “false and slanderous”.
In Geneva, United Nations rights chief Volker Turk said he was “horrified by the open use of genocidal rhetoric … by senior Israeli officials”.
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