By Steve Zalusky | Daily Herald
A former Barrington resident wants to rejoin a group sailing to bring aid to Gaza after their flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces and handed over to Greek authorities on Crete.
Carleigh Wamberg, a 37-year-old Barrington High School graduate now living in Guatemala, sailed as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which departed from Augusta, Italy, on April 26. Organizers have called it “the largest coordinated civilian maritime mobilization of the mission to date.”
Three days into the voyage, the flotilla was intercepted by Israeli forces near Crete, about 660 miles from Israel — far earlier than the group expected. They hadn’t anticipated any intervention until within about 50 miles of Gaza’s coast.
“Everyone was completely shocked,” Wamberg said.
Israeli forces in a speedboat overtook the vessel, flashing bright lights and screaming at the group to move to the bow, she said.
This grab from black and white CCTV footage shows members of a flotilla with hands in air as Israeli forces intercepted activists who set sail earlier this month attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza, near the southern Greek island of Crete late last month. | AP/Global Sumud Flotilla
“They’re pointing their guns at our heads. They board the boat with the lasers all on us, and they’re in SWAT gear, faces covered,” Wamberg recounted.
Members of the flotilla were zip-tied and later strip searched, she said.
Wamberg said detainees were given wet mats to sleep on in shipping containers and then forced onto the deck of their captor’s ship without shade during the day.
“We’re all out there getting sunburned, dehydrated and trying to put the mats on our heads to shelter us from the sun,” she said.
Wamberg claims detainees were beaten when they demanded proof of life of their crew as well as medicine, clothing and other supplies.
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