“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a post on social media. “They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over.”
Paris has requested consular protection for the six French nationals on board, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in a statement.
The French consulate has requested permission to see them and allow them to rapidly return to France, he added. “France calls on the Israeli government to allow immediate, massive, and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the statement said.
The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave is dire, with reports of widespread hunger and a collapsing health system caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and ongoing military offensive.
On Sunday, at least 12 people were reportedly killed by gunfire on their way to aid distribution points in Gaza run by a controversial Israeli and U.S.-backed group known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
Israel has spent more than 18 months conducting a retaliatory assault in the Gaza Strip — killing more than 50,000 people, according to local health officials, and waging a blockade that has brought the coastal enclave to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations — after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a violent attack on Israeli soil, killing more than 1,000 people and taking hostages.
