Dar confirms release of Mushtaq after Israeli forces intercept flotilla

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

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

According to the organizers and Reuters In the pictures, 168 members of the flotilla’s crew were transferred from an Israeli naval ship to Greek ships on Friday and taken ashore, where buses and an ambulance were waiting for them.

“Alhamdolillah, I am pleased to share that former Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan, who was illegally detained by the Israeli occupation forces along with other humanitarian workers aboard the Sumud Global 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 Turkiye leadership and government for helping him return to Istanbul to continue his journey to Pakistan.

“My gratitude for the effective response of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and our Embassy in Athens,” he said, while reiterating his condemnation of the detention of humanitarian workers aboard the flotilla, as well as the obstruction of humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.

“Pakistan has provided 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 in international waters, calling the incident a serious violation of international law.

“The Israeli army kidnapped us in international waters. The whole world should take note of this. It is a terrorist army, and we demand that international organizations and governments take note 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 his 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 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 fight,” he added.

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

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

The 22 ships were seized by Israel on Wednesday night in international waters off Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, which is hundreds of kilometers from Gaza, flotilla organizers said. In a statement Thursday, the US State Department threatened to “impose consequences” against supporters of the flotilla, which it called pro-Hamas.

Pro-Palestinian activists say Israel and the United States wrongly conflate their defense of Palestinian rights with support for Hamas.