Greece’s foreign ministry on Sunday said 27 citizens detained by Israel after it intercepted a Gaza aid flotilla were to return home on Monday, as separate protests were held in the capital.
The foreign ministry in a statement said a Greek embassy delegation had visited in detention the 27 who participated in the Global Sumud Flotilla.
“All of them are in good health and are receiving all necessary support,” the ministry said.
“A special flight will depart from the nearby Eilat-Ramon International Airport to safely return the Greek citizens to Athens (on Monday),” it said.
A few dozen people gathered Sunday outside the Israeli embassy in Athens to mark the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas that triggered the conflict.
“Today we will honour the dead and victims of the Nova festival, where I personally lost many friends, and among the hostages,” said Tatiana Papadopoulou, a 48-year-old private-sector employee.
“We hope the hostages will return home under the new (peace) plan that is on the table,” she told AFP.
Nearly 400 people died at the Nova music festival in Reim, southern Israel. They were among a total 1,219 people, mostly civilians, killed in the October 7, 2023 attack, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures
Israel’s retaliatory offensive on the Gaza Strip has killed at least 67,074 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to health ministry figures in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
A few hundred pro-Palestinian protesters were kept a safe distance away by riot police.
A separate pro-Palestinian protest was held on Athens’s central Syntagma Square, drawing a few thousand demonstrators.
“We will do our best here in Greece and around the world to stop the genocide,” said 28-year-old computer programmer Christos Papaconstantinou.
“It has to stop as quickly as possible…. Now, very slowly, some governments are reacting, but it’s much too slow,” said Gigi Gommers, a Dutch real estate renovator living in Greece.
The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail last month, ferrying politicians and activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg towards Gaza, where the United Nations says famine is taking hold.
The Israeli navy began intercepting the boats international waters on Wednesday, and an Israeli official said the following day that boats with more than 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the Palestinian territory.
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© Agence France-Presse
