Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares announced that a first group of 21 Spaniards out of 49 on board the Gaza aid flotilla intercepted by Israel this week will return to Spain on Sunday.
"We have reached an agreement with Israel so that a first group of 21 Spanish citizens will be able to leave Tel Aviv today (Sunday) and arrive in Spain, provided nothing disrupts our plans," Barça said in a phone call with Spanish public television.
He added, "We will not fully confirm this until I saw them sitting on the plane and did not see it take off." He confirmed that all preparations for this first flight have been completed.
hunger strike
In a related context, the radical left-wing France Insoumise party announced on Sunday that four of its representatives, who were arrested by Israel when it intercepted the Gaza-bound flotilla, have begun a hunger strike.
Manon Aubry, a member of the European Parliament for the France Insoumise party, told France Info that there was "no new news" about the detained MPs, "except for a few conversations with their lawyers and the French consul who was able to visit them."
"We know that their detention conditions are difficult, with more than ten people in the cell, and that they have begun a hunger strike," she added.
The four members are François Piquel and Marie Mesmour in the French National Assembly, and Rima Hassan and Emma Forou in the European Parliament.
Aubrey also spoke about the difficulty they face in obtaining water and called on French authorities to intervene to recover the 30 French citizens detained by Israel, who were participating in the Steadfastness Flotilla, which aimed to deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged Gaza Strip.
The Twitter account of the Omar Al-Mukhtar ship, part of the Global Steadfastness Flotilla, which aims to break the siege on Gaza, announced the arrival of seven activists aboard the ship to Istanbul.
He stated that "these seven were among 137 activists who arrived at Istanbul Airport (yesterday) Saturday," noting that "10 Libyan activists and other foreign nationalities were on board the Omar al-Mukhtar ship, and Israel is still holding them."
The Omar Al-Mukhtar ship set sail from Tripoli and joined the Global Steadfastness Flotilla in the Mediterranean on September 30. Seventeen activists were on board, including 11 Libyans, two from Scotland, a Canadian, an American, a Briton, and a Nigerian.
Since Wednesday evening, Israeli authorities have seized 42 ships belonging to the Global Steadfastness Flotilla as they sailed in international waters toward Gaza, arresting hundreds of international activists on board, before announcing the start of their deportation on Friday.
The flotilla issued a distress call after the Israeli occupation forces attacked its ships in international waters, considering this escalation a "war crime."
This is the first time that dozens of ships have set sail together toward Gaza, home to approximately 2.4 million Palestinians, in a collective attempt to break the 18-year Israeli blockade of the territory.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, leaving 67,139 martyrs and 169,583 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 459 Palestinians, including 154 children.
