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Freedom Flotilla to sail for Gaza again after earlier ship seized

Freedom Flotilla to sail for Gaza again after earlier ship seized

Middle East Eye2 days ago
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says it is preparing to launch another aid mission to Gaza, weeks after Israeli forces seized one of its vessels in international waters.
The group confirmed that its next boat, named Handala, will depart from the Italian port of Siracusa on 13 July in a renewed effort to challenge Israel's blockade of the coastal enclave.
In a post on X, the coalition said, 'The mission is for the children of Gaza.' The vessel is named after Handala, a cartoon figure of a 10-year-old boy who has come to symbolise Palestinian resistance.
Israeli forces previously intercepted the aid ship Madleen about 185km off the Gaza coast, detaining 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. All were later deported.
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France, Italy and Greece allowed the plane of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fly over their airspace en route to the United States on 7 July, raising questions about their obligations under international law. Netayahu was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in November, on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Gaza since October 2023. In February, Netanyahu made his first trip abroad since the warrant, flying over French, Italian and Greek airspace on the way to and returning from the US. The three states are parties to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the Hague-based court in 2002, and are under a legal obligation to arrest those wanted by the ICC. Then, in April, Netanyahu flew over France, Italy and Croatia during a trip from Hungary to the US. 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France, Italy and Greece are states parties to the Convention on International Civil Aviation, a treaty that includes airspace as part of a state's territory upon which it exercises sovereignty. Sergey Vasiliev, a leading expert in international criminal law, told MEE that whereas ICC member states do not have the obligation "not to allow" Netanyahu's overflight, the interpretation of Article 89 (1) of the Rome Statute should take into account the fact that airspace is traditionally included within the notion of state territory. A French diplomatic source told Middle East Eye in April that Netanyahu's flight on 2 February had been 'authorised' to use French airspace, which they said was 'in full compliance with France's rights and obligations under international law'. 'The Rome Statute does not impose any obligation regarding the overflight of its territory by a state aircraft carrying a person subject to an arrest warrant,' the source said. 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