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Synagogue Knife Attack Heightens Fears Among UK Jews Amid Rising Antisemitism
Thursday’s attack on a northern England synagogue rattled a Jewish community, which is already facing rising antisemitism, prompting warnings to keep doors locked and avoid communal gatherings.
It was the latest act of violence aimed at British Jews following Israel’s escalating military offensive in Gaza, a response to the October 2023 attacks by Hamas militants.
“I’m Jewish and absolutely terrified,” Vicky, who did not give her surname, told Reuters near the site of the attack on the synagogue in Manchester. “I just don’t feel safe.”
Antisemitic Incidents On The Rise In UK
Across Britain, the number of reported antisemitic acts last year was the second highest in modern times. The Jewish charity, which advises communities on security, said the Hamas attack and subsequent war had helped fuel thousands of incidents, including cases of violent attacks and threats.
The attack occurred in Manchester in an area that is home to a large Jewish community. Hours after the incident, two cars drove past with Palestinian flags in the back, and some men turned up in balaclavas, where they could be heard muttering “Jews”, according to a Reuters journalist at the scene.
“I don’t know how, after you hear about such an awful attack, you come and try and antagonise the people, the victims of it,” Simon Cassel, a Jewish student who lived close to the synagogue, told Reuters.
The Community Security Trust (CST), the charity that coordinates security measures at Jewish institutions, urged Jews not to congregate outside communal premises or synagogues on Thursday and to keep their doors closed. Nearly 290,000 people identified as Jewish in the last census in 2021.
Britain’s police said they would be stepping up patrols around synagogues.
“I want to be clear, UK policing is mobilising. And mobilising fast,” said Laurence Taylor, head of counter-terrorism policing in Britain.
“Police forces are stepping up patrols across the country, at synagogues and Jewish sites and more widely to provide reassurance to all communities who are affected.”
Increased Funding To Protect Jewish Community
The incident occurred less than a week before the two-year anniversary of the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel.
The Israeli embassy in London called the incident “abhorrent and deeply distressing”.
In Britain, the number of antisemitic incidents in 2024 was more than double the number compared with the same period two years before, according to data compiled by the CST.
Of the 3,528 reported incidents, 201, or about 6%, were incidents of assault or other physical attacks. The CST said about half of the incidents involved inflammatory speech about the Israel-Hamas conflict alongside explicit expressions of anti-Jewish language, motivation or targeting.
In February last year, the government promised 70 million pounds ($94 million) to a security fund for Jewish community sites to fund measures such as security guards, CCTV and alarm systems.
Synagogues and a children’s nursery in Golders Green, an area of north London with a large Jewish population, were reportedly smeared with faeces last month.
Dina, 46, who was attending a synagogue in Golders Green, said after the attack she would tell her two sons to stop wearing their Jewish cap, also known as a kippot, in public places like the London underground or buses.
“I’ll tell them to take off any signifying signs,” she said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Britain Develops New Sensors To Shield Satellites From Hostile Attacks
The UK government announced on Friday that it is developing sensors designed to defend satellites from hostile attempts to disable them with lasers or disrupt their communications.
The Defence Ministry added that the sensors will be deployed on both military and commercial satellites, forming part of the UK’s new space strategy.
The government said it will spend about £500,000 ($672,750) on the project, which involves UK Space Command and the UK Space Agency.
A UK-government commissioned security review published this summer said Britain urgently needs to bolster defences for military space systems as adversaries improve their own abilities to attack in space.
The Strategic Defence Review called for Britain to invest in its own space attack capabilities, along with intelligence and navigation networks as well as satellite communications.
Militaries depend on satellites for communication, surveillance, and guidance data for troops, warships and weapons. Without their space assets, Western militaries “can’t effectively understand, move, communicate, and fight,” General Paul Tedman, head of UK Space Command, said on Wednesday during a visit to the RAF Fylingdales radar station.
Hostile Space Activities
European and other Western military space officials are warning about increasing hostile activity in space that could disrupt the operations of ground and sea forces.
“You’ve got to be able to protect your systems in space,” Tedman said at RAF Fylingdales, which provides missile warning and space surveillance to the United States and Britain.
While the U.S. dominates government spending on space globally, France and Germany were Europe’s two largest spenders on space last year, according to France-based consulting firm Novaspace.
Last week, Germany’s defence minister warned about a growing threat posed by Russia and announced Berlin would invest 35 billion euros ($41.09 billion) over the next five years on space security.
France’s space-related initiatives include leading a 1.5-billion euro investment in Eutelsat, a French rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications service.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Direct Flights From India: Do The Chinese Even Want It?
First it was the announcement of the K-visa that triggered a wave of anti-India sentiment on Chinese social media. Now, it’s the announcement of direct flights between the two countries, for the first time since Covid, that is providing fresh fodder to fuel the anti-India ire.
“Don’t come here”, is the reigning advice on China’s social media handles. Others are downright insulting: “Bugs are coming,” “Disgusting” and “What’s the point of having a direct flight to India? Nobody wants to go there.”
“Let’s continue to suspend flights,” one comment read, while another said, “Although I don’t like India, I also do not have money to go to India, so it really doesn’t matter if the direct flights open up or not.”
The wave of negative expressions seemed to hint at something deeper, insecurities over potential competition from Indian techies, who are otherwise sought after the world over for their expertise and skills.
In fact, one comment on social media said, “Indians should be banned from studying science and engineering, humanities are fine.”
Another called for tough measures that could hobble India’s drive to industrialise.
“Chinese capital should be prohibited from building factories or participating in infrastructure projects in India. Any action aiding India’s industrialization is helping the enemy. Leave these to Japanese companies, let them have mutual cooperation.”
Another used said” “From trade’s point of view, it will help attack India’s economy, but don’t let them in using K Visa”.
Chinese netizens earlier had criticized India’s tourist visa rules requiring a 100,000 yuan (₹12 lakh) bank guarantee. India has recently started issuing visas for Chinese nationals largely under pressure from domestic business and industrial houses that need Chinese professionals to get projects moving.
So far there is nothing to suggest the Chinese government is having second thoughts about the need to clear the decks with India. But the anger in social media may reflect a wider anti-India which is something they will have to address at some point.
‘If Russia Is A Paper Tiger, What Is NATO?’ Putin Fires Back At Trump
Russian President Vladimir Putin hit back on Thursday at United States President Donald Trump’s “paper tiger” remark, hinting NATO might deserve the label instead and warning that U.S. supplies of Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would risk a dangerous escalation.
Russia’s war in Ukraine, Europe’s deadliest since World War II, has sparked the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and Russian officials say they are now in a “hot” conflict with the West.
Putin, speaking at the Valdai Discussion Group in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, said that Russian forces were advancing along the entire front in Ukraine and that almost all of the U.S.-led NATO alliance was now fighting against Russia.
Trump, who had previously said Kyiv should give up land to make peace with Moscow, reversed his rhetoric sharply last week, saying he thought Ukraine could win back all territory from Russia, and labelling Moscow a “paper tiger”. He repeated the line this week.
“A paper tiger. What follows then? Go and deal with this paper tiger,” Putin said. “Well, if we are fighting with the entire NATO bloc, we are moving, advancing, and we feel confident, and we are a ‘paper tiger’, then what is NATO itself?”
Putin poured irony on European claims that Russian drones had invaded NATO airspace, quipping that he promised he would not do it again in Denmark and that he did not have drones that could fly to Lisbon.
European authorities have accused Russia of brazen violations of the region’s airspace, including with recent incursions by drones over Poland and fighter jets over Estonia.
He took a more serious tone about the possibility of the United States supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine, saying that such a step would lead to a dangerous new wave of escalation.
“It is impossible to use Tomahawks without the direct participation of American military personnel,” Putin said. “This will mean a completely new, qualitatively new stage of escalation, including in relations between Russia and the United States.”
The United States has so far not announced any decision on supplying Tomahawks to Ukraine.
‘Cool Down, Sleep Calmly’
NATO members, he said, were providing Ukraine with intelligence, weapons and training, and whipping up what he cast as hysteria about alleged plans of Russia to attack a NATO member, which he dismissed as “impossible to believe”.
“If anyone still has a desire to compete with us in the military sphere, as we say, feel free, let them try,” Putin said. “Russia’s countermeasures will not be long in coming.”
Putin portrays the war as a watershed moment in Moscow’s relations with the West, which he says humiliated Russia after the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union by enlarging NATO and encroaching on what he considers Moscow’s sphere of influence.
Western European leaders and Ukraine cast the war as an imperial-style land grab and have repeatedly vowed to defeat Russian forces. They argue that unless Russia is defeated, Putin will risk an attack on a NATO member.
“I just want to say: Cool down, sleep calmly, and take care of your own problems. Just take a look at what’s happening on the streets of European cities,” Putin said.
Putin said Ukraine’s armed forces had a grave lack of manpower and desertions, while Russia had enough soldiers. He suggested that Kyiv should negotiate an end to the war.
Russia, he said, controlled almost all of Luhansk province, about 81% of the Donetsk region, and about 75% of both Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Israel Seals Main Road To Gaza City, Issues Final Evacuation Warning
Israeli tanks on Thursday sealed the main road to Gaza City, barring return for those who fled, as Defence Minister Israel Katz warned it was the final chance for hundreds of thousands still inside to escape.
Israel has told the entire million-strong population of Gaza City to head south as it mounts one of the biggest offensives of the war this month, vowing to root out Hamas fighters in what it says are their last bastions in Gaza’s biggest urban area.
Residents told Reuters that tanks had set up sand barriers on the main road south out of Gaza City. People were being allowed out, but those who had left in search of food or temporary shelter were no longer being permitted to return.
“This is the last opportunity for Gaza residents who wish to do so to move south and leave Hamas operatives isolated in Gaza City itself in the face of the IDF’s continuing full-scale operations,” Israeli Defence Minister Katz said in a statement.
Those leaving would be subjected to vetting by the military, Katz said.
The military said in a statement on Wednesday it had begun an operation to strengthen and maintain “operational control of the Netzarim Corridor”, an area it controls dividing northern and southern Gaza. It did not respond to a request for further comment on Thursday.
‘We Are Not Leaving’
The United Nations estimates that 600,000-700,000 people are still inside Gaza City, after up to 400,000 fled in the past few weeks as Israeli forces have advanced, destroying buildings in their path.
Some residents reached by Reuters said the move to prevent people from returning to Gaza City had increased their determination to stay.
“We are not leaving. Yesterday, a drone dropped grenades on the rooftop of our building, but we are not leaving,” said Hani, 24, who lives in Gaza City, who asked to be identified only by his first name because of security concerns.
“We are afraid if we leave, we will never see our Gaza City again.”
Israeli planes and tanks continued to pound Gaza City. Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli fire killed at least 77 people in the past 24 hours.
Medics said one of those strikes on Thursday killed nine people, including five from one family, near a community kitchen in Al-Mawasi, a southern coastal area which Israel has designated a “humanitarian zone” for hundreds of thousands of residents forced to flee from other parts of Gaza.
Ground Offensive Damages Health Facilities
Gaza’s health ministry said Israel’s intensifying ground assault was crippling the ability to treat the sick and wounded, after four medical facilities were forced to shutter.
Doctors at Gaza City’s main hospital, Al Shifa, said they had been forced to scale back services because of constant Israeli bombardment around the facility, as vulnerable patients worried that the hospital would soon have to shut.
“If this department is closed, it will mean the death of the patients. Our lives would end. This department represents life for us,” Medhat Elewah, a kidney patient, said in a video filmed inside the hospital, obtained by Reuters.
He said he used to receive four hours of dialysis sessions three times a week, but this had been cut back to two hours.
Israel began its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s two-year-long campaign has killed over 66,000 people in Gaza, according to Gaza health authorities.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Trump Weighs Targeted Cuts To ‘Democrat Agencies’ Amid Shutdown
On the second day of the government shutdown, U.S. President Donald Trump announced plans to meet his budget director Russell Vought on Thursday to discuss which “Democrat Agencies” could face cuts, describing the move as part of his strategy against political rivals.
“I can’t believe the Radical Left Democrats gave me this unprecedented opportunity,” Trump said in a social media post.
Trump has already frozen federal transit and green-energy funding for Democratic-leaning states and has threatened to fire more federal workers during the shutdown, which began on Wednesday due to a partisan standoff in Congress.
Trump is already on track to push out 300,000 federal workers by the end of the year.
In his post, Trump mentioned Vought’s involvement with Project 2025, a plan by the conservative Heritage Foundation that calls for radically downsizing the federal government.
Trump’s administration has already pursued many aspects of that plan, such as dismantling the Department of Education and curtailing the government’s power to fight pollution.
Thousands Of Federal Employees Could Be Fired
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Trump could fire thousands of workers, though she did not provide details. Several federal employee unions have filed a lawsuit to prevent that from happening, but federal courts have allowed layoffs to proceed while similar cases are being litigated.
Senator Patty Murray, top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, warned Trump that more firings would not help to end the legislative logjam that has shut the government.
“If the president fires a bunch of people, it’s not because of his shutdown—it’s because HE decided to fire them,” Murray, of Washington state, said on social media. “People aren’t negotiating tools & it’s sick that the president is treating federal workers like pawns. Making threats and choosing to hurt people won’t win my vote.”
The government shutdown, the 15th since 1981, has suspended scientific research, , economic data reports, and a wide range of other activities. Major benefit programs, like Social Security, will continue to send out payments.
A standoff in Congress has frozen about $1.7 trillion in funds for agency operations, which amounts to roughly one-quarter of annual federal spending. Much of the remainder goes to health and retirement programs and interest payments on the growing $37.5 trillion debt.
Two Million Workers’ Pay Suspended
Pay has been suspended for roughly 2 million federal workers, with roughly 750,000 ordered not to work and others, such as troops and Border Patrol agents, required to work without pay. Many could face personal hardship if the standoff is not resolved before October 15, when the next paychecks are due to be issued.
A prolonged shutdown could disrupt air travel, threaten food aid for millions of Americans, and weigh on exports and mortgage applications.
However, past shutdowns have not had a lasting impact on the broader U.S. economy. The longest lasted 35 days in 2018 and 2019, during Trump’s first term, due to a dispute over immigration.
The shutdown was triggered at midnight Tuesday, when Democrats and Republicans were unable to agree on a spending bill that would have allowed agency operations to continue past October 1, the start of the new fiscal year.
Democrats insist that any funding bill must also extend health subsidies that are due to expire at the end of the year, while Republicans say the two issues must be dealt with separately.
Shutdown Until Friday
The shutdown will persist at least until Friday, when the Senate next convenes to address the issue. Trump’s Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of Congress but Senate rules mean they will need the votes of at least seven Democrats to pass a funding bill.
In the meantime, Trump has made clear he will pile pressure on his opponents by targeting government programs they favor. Democrats have said this amounts to hostage-taking that throws regular Americans out of work and also violates Congress’ constitutional authority over federal spending.
Republicans have shown little concern so far, arguing that the administration can prioritize spending as it sees fit if Congress abdicates its responsibility to pass spending bills.
“When Congress turns off the funding and the funding runs out, it is up to the commander in chief, the president of the United States, to determine how those resources will be spent,” House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters. “He has that responsibility given to him by the Democrats in the Senate. They can’t complain about it.”
(With inputs from Reuters)
Musk Fails To Shift SEC Lawsuit Over Twitter Stake To Texas
Elon Musk’s request to shift an SEC lawsuit from Washington, DC to Texas was rejected by a federal judge, despite his argument that he was too busy to defend himself in the capital over allegations of delayed disclosure of his growing Twitter stake.
US District Judge Sparkle Sooknanan said on Thursday she “takes Mr. Musk’s convenience seriously,” but the world’s richest person has “considerable means” and spends at least 40% of his time outside Texas.
“Indeed,” she wrote, “Mr. Musk’s brief itself indicates that he has spent substantial time here this year,” when he ran the Department of Government Efficiency.
‘Reasonable Alacrity’
Sooknanan also said Texas judges have bigger caseloads than in her court, and she could proceed with “reasonable alacrity”.
In seeking to move the case, Musk said he was an “incredibly busy individual” who works 80-plus hour weeks and often sleeps in the office or factory, and that litigating in Washington would impose “substantial burdens”.
Lawyers for Musk did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesperson for the SEC had no comment, citing the government shutdown. Musk’s fortune surpassed $500 billion for the first time on Wednesday.
Seeking To Dismiss Case
The SEC sued Musk in January, saying his 11-day delay in revealing his initial 5% Twitter stake in early 2022 let him buy more than $500 million of shares at artificially low prices.
It wants Musk to pay a civil fine and give up $150 million he allegedly saved at the expense of unsuspecting investors. Musk is seeking to dismiss the case. He bought all of Twitter for $44 billion in October 2022 and renamed it X.
Musk lives in Austin, and his companies Tesla, SpaceX and Boring tunnel business are based in Texas.
Sooknanan rejected Musk’s alternative proposal to move the SEC case to Manhattan, where former Twitter shareholders are suing him.
The case is SEC v Musk, US District Court, District of Columbia, No. 25-00105.
(With inputs from Reuters)
French Workers March Against Spending Cuts
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets across French cities on Thursday, responding to trade unions’ call for action against proposed deep spending cuts in next year’s budget.
Trade unions are eager to keep the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron and his new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, who is racing against the parliamentary timetable to break an impasse in budget negotiations with political rivals.
Macron and his prime minister, who is still working to form a cabinet, need to bring public finances under control in the euro zone’s second-largest economy, with European Union peers, ratings agencies and financial markets watching its next moves.
But union leaders, including those from France’s largest union, the CFDT, and the hardline CGT, are clamouring for more spending on public services, a reversal of an increase to the retirement age and higher taxes on the wealthy.
“We need to … end for good all the sacrifices being demanded of workers that were set out in the (last) budget proposal,” CGT secretary general Sophie Binet told BFM TV.
Macron’s last prime minister, Francois Bayrou, was ousted by parliament over a planned 44-billion-euro budget squeeze. Lecornu has promised a break from those plans.
“The question is what exactly?” CFDT secretary general Marylise Leon told reporters ahead of a protest in Paris.
Lower Turnout Than Last Month’s Strike Day
About 85,000 people had protested across the country as of midday, the Interior Ministry said – less than half the attendance it reported at the same time in a day of strikes and protests in September.
“We must continue the fight, even if there are clearly not many of us,” said construction worker Dominique Menier, 59, who attended the protest in Nantes. “It costs us a day each time. But that’s how democracy normally advances.”
Protests were scheduled in more than 240 locations around France, the CGT union said, including Dijon, Metz, Poitiers and Montpellier.
Students carrying flares blocked the entrance to a high school in Paris, with some schools in other parts of the country also blocked. About 76,000 police officers were being deployed to maintain order.
Budget Deficit Close To Double The EU Ceiling
The government faced protests and strikes in September, when hundreds of thousands of people including teachers, train drivers, pharmacists and hospital staff protested against the proposed 2026 budget, and teenagers blocked dozens of high schools for hours.
France’s budget deficit last year was close to double the EU’s 3% ceiling. Lecornu faces a battle to gather parliamentary support for a budget for 2026, needing support from the centre-right in his camp whilst offering something to the Socialists and their voters.
Parties broadly agree on the need to slash the deficit, which reached 5.8% of GDP in 2024, but not on how to do it.
Lecornu, Macron’s fifth prime minister in two years, has promised a budget that delivers more “fiscal fairness”. He has ruled out a wealth tax but said the distribution of the tax burden should be shifted.
Alexandra Thomas, a 53-year-old aerospace worker who attended the protest in Nantes, expressed scepticism that Lecornu would be different from Macron’s previous premiers.
“The only fear I have is that we’ve got a different person, but that we’ll continue with the same policies,” she said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
Vietnam: Typhoon Bualoi Death Toll Climbs To 36
The death toll in Vietnam from Typhoon Bualoi and the floods it triggered has risen to 36, the government’s disaster management agency stated on Thursday.
Bualoi made landfall on Monday in northern central Vietnam, bringing huge sea swells, strong winds and heavy rains that also left 21 people missing and injured 147 others, according to the report.
Property Damage Estimated At $435.80M
The agency also raised its estimate of property damage caused by the typhoon and its flooding to 11.5 trillion dong ($435.80 million), up from $303 million in a previous report released on Wednesday.
The typhoon severely damaged roads, schools and offices, and caused power grid failures that left tens of thousands of families without electricity, the report said.
More than 210,000 houses were damaged or inundated, and more than 51,000 hectares of rice and other crops were destroyed, it said.
Hanoi Streets Flooded
In the capital Hanoi, streets were heavily flooded as persistent downpours were accompanied by thunder and lightning, paralysing traffic in many downtown areas.
“It doesn’t rain, it pours,” said 49-year-old Hanoi resident Hoang Quoc Uy.
“Water is flowing into my living room… I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Several villages in northern central Vietnam were flooded with no traffic access or power, state media reported.
Floodwaters rose to close to the roof level of houses in several villages in Nghe An province, according to footage on state broadcaster VTV.
“This is my house, the roof above had been blown away by the typhoon wind, and it is now half a metre deep in flood water,” 56-year-old Nghe An resident Ngo Thi Loan told Reuters.
“All of my belongings have been damaged, all gone,” Loan said.
With a long coastline facing the South China Sea, Vietnam is prone to typhoons that often also bring heavy rains that cause severe flooding.
(With inputs from Reuters)
International Protests Erupt After Israel Intercepts Gaza Aid Boats Carrying Greta Thunberg
On Thursday, Israeli forces intercepted roughly 40 aid boats bound for Gaza, carrying over 400 foreign activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg. The action drew international condemnation and sparked protests worldwide.
Cameras broadcasting live feeds from the boats revealed armed Israeli soldiers sporting helmets and night vision goggles boarding the ships, while passengers huddled together in life vests with their hands up.
A video from the Israeli foreign ministry showed Sweden’s Thunberg, the most prominent of the flotilla’s passengers, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
Greta Thunberg, 22, best known for her environmental protests, had pre-recorded a video which was released on her behalf after her ship was boarded.
“If you are watching this video, I have been abducted and taken against my will by Israeli forces. Our humanitarian mission was non-violent and abiding by international law,” she said.
Israel Says ‘All Passengers Are Safe’
Those vessels intercepted and those on board were expected to be taken initially to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where one ship was spotted by a witness.
“All the passengers are safe and in good health. They are making their way safely to Israel, from where they will be deported to Europe,” the Israeli foreign ministry said on X.
“One last vessel of this provocation remains at a distance. If it approaches, its attempt to enter an active combat zone and breach the blockade will also be prevented,” it added.
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), the organiser of the voyage, said an estimated 443 volunteers had been detained, some of them transferred to one large cargo vessel before being taken ashore.
Turkey Condemns Israeli Aggression
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday criticised Israeli aggression, saying it showed Israel’s government has no intention of letting hopes for peace grow.
“I condemn the thuggery directed at the global Sumud Flotilla, which set out to draw attention to the barbarity of children dying of hunger in Gaza and to deliver humanitarian aid to the oppressed Palestinians,” he said in a speech to officials from his AK Party in the capital Ankara.
The Istanbul chief prosecutor’s office said it had launched an investigation into the detention of 24 Turkish citizens on the vessels, Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.
South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa called on Israel to immediately release South Africans who were on the flotilla, including former president Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela.
Activists To Be Moved In Ketziot Prison
The activists are expected to be transferred to the immigration authority upon arrival in Ashdod, from where they will be moved to Ketziot Prison in southern Israel before they are deported, said Suhad Bishara, the director at Adalah, a human rights organisation and legal centre in Israel.
“Our main concern of this stage, of course, their well-being, their health condition, as well, making sure that they all get the legal advice prior to the hearings,” Bishara said on Thursday.
The flotilla, which set sail in late August, is transporting medicine and food to Gaza and consists of more than 40 civilian vessels with parliamentarians, lawyers and activists.
It was not clear how much aid it was carrying but it represented the highest-profile symbol of opposition to Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Israeli officials have repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt.
The flotilla’s progress across the Mediterranean Sea garnered international attention undefined as nations including Turkey, Spain and Italy sent boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance, even as it triggered repeated warnings from Israel to turn back.
Worldwide Protests
Israel’s interception of the flotilla sparked protests in Italy and Colombia, while protests were also called in Greece, Ireland and Turkey. Italian unions called a general strike for Friday.
Israel’s navy had previously warned the flotilla it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked organisers to change course. It had offered to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.
The flotilla is the latest seaborne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war.
In a statement, Hamas expressed support for the activists and called Israel’s interception of the flotilla a “criminal act”, calling for public protests to condemn Israel.
The boats were about 70 nautical miles off Gaza when they were intercepted, inside a zone that Israel is policing to stop any boats approaching. The organisers said their communications, including the use of a live camera feed from some of the boats, had been scrambled.
Israel began its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The offensive has killed over 66,000 people in Gaza, Palestinian health authorities say.
(With inputs from Reuters)