By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
@GettyImages.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called for the immediate release of South Africans and other activists intercepted on an aid flotilla headed towards Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla of around 45 vessels began its voyage to Gaza last month, with Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg among those on board.
In a pre-recorded video Mandela said he was kidnapped by Israeli forces who intercepted the flotilla.
“If you are receiving this video, it means that we have been intercepted and I have been abducted by the apartheid State of Israel, I call on you to request our government to exact pressure for my immediate release,” he said.
The flotilla is aiming to break Israel’s siege of the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations says famine has set in.
The Israeli navy began intercepting vessels on Wednesday after warning the activists against entering waters it says fall under its blockade.
“The interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla is another grave offence by Israel (against) global solidarity and sentiment that is aimed at relieving suffering in Gaza and advancing peace in the region,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.
Ramaphosa said Israeli forces’ interception of the flotilla in international waters violated an ICJ injunction that humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow unimpeded.
South Africa has been a leading critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, bringing a case before the UN’s top court in December 2023 that argues Israel’s war in the Palestinian territory — which followed Hamas’ October 7, 2023 attack — amounts to genocide, a charge Israel has denied.