Dar confirms the release of Mushtaq after Israeli forces intercept the flotilla

Former senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, who was detained by Israeli forces along with other humanitarian workers aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, has been released, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed on Friday.

Mushtaq was part of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla when 22 vessels were intercepted by Israeli forces near the Greek island of Crete, where 211 activists, including a Paris city councillor, were arrested on Thursday.

According to organizers and Reuters footage, 168 members of the flotilla crew were transferred from an Israeli naval vessel to Greek boats on Friday and brought ashore, where buses and an ambulance were waiting.

“Alhamdolillah, I am happy to share that former senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, who was illegally detained by Israeli occupation forces along with other humanitarian workers aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, has been released,” Dar said in a post on X.

He thanked the Hellenic authorities for facilitating Mushtaq’s release in Crete and expressed gratitude to the leaders and government of Turkiye for assisting in his return to Istanbul to travel on to Pakistan.

“My appreciation for an effective response from the State Department and our embassy in Athens,” he said, reiterating his condemnation of the detention of humanitarian workers aboard the flotilla as well as the blocking of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

“Pakistan has been and will continue to provide unequivocal support to our Palestinian brothers and sisters,” the minister added.

Confirming their release, Mushtaq said they were “kidnapped” by Israel’s “terrorist and Zionist” army from international waters, terming the incident a serious violation of international law.

“The Israeli army kidnapped us from international waters. The whole world should take notice of this. It is a terrorist army and we demand that international bodies and governments take notice of the kidnapping and torture of a humanitarian aid mission in international waters,” he said.

He added that while he and others had been released and were now in Greece, two members of their group – Thiago and Saif – remained in custody.

“We are in Greece, but two of our members, Thiago and Saif, are still detained and held hostage,” he said, calling for their immediate release.

The former senator said the movement would continue despite the incident.

“We will continue this flotilla as long as there is a blockade and siege, as long as there is genocide. Until Palestine is free, until the right to self-determination is granted, and until Al-Aqsa, Gaza and Palestine are liberated, we will continue this struggle,” he added.

In a post on their Telegram channel, organizers of the flotilla claimed that activists had been denied adequate food and water and “forced to sleep on floors that were deliberately and repeatedly flooded” aboard an Israeli naval vessel, describing their treatment as “40 hours of calculated cruelty”.

A source, who asked not to be identified, said that while 22 boats had been intercepted by Israel, 47 others were still sailing off southern Crete and planned to anchor there at some point before continuing on to Gaza. Each ship carries about a ton of food, medical and other equipment, the source said.

The 22 vessels were seized by Israel late Wednesday in international waters off Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, which is hundreds of miles from Gaza, the flotilla’s organizers said. In a statement on Thursday, the US State Department threatened “to impose consequences” against those who support the flotilla, which it described as pro-Hamas.

Pro-Palestinian activists say ⁠Israel and the United States are mistakenly conflating their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for Hamas.