The Foreign Affairs Ministry (SRE) reported that the six Mexicans who were detained by Israel while carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza have already left that country to be repatriated to Mexico.
The detention of peaceful aid providers had alarmed President Claudia Sheinbaum and prompted Mexico to join other countries in filing a complaint with the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The SRE statement said that the activists were transferred to Amman, Jordan, where they were received by the Mexican ambassador to Jordan, along with the Mexican ambassador to Israel, who will accompany them back to Mexico.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs appreciates the support of the Jordanian government, with whom diplomatic efforts were made to allow our nationals to enter the country,” the statement said.
The repatriation coincides with the two-year anniversary of the start of the war in the Gaza Strip, which began on Tuesday, October 6.
The six repatriated Mexicans are Sol González Eguía, Ernesto Ledesma Arronte, Arlín Medrano Guzmán, Carlos Pérez Osorio, Diego Vázquez Galindo, and Laura Alejandra Vélez Ruiz Gaitán. The Global Movement to Gaza Mexico, the Mexican arm of the international pro-Palestinian NGO that supported the flotilla and demonstrated for the release of the Mexicans, celebrated their return.
The activists were intercepted by the Israeli Navy on Oct. 1, along with hundreds of others who were on vessels that were part of the Global Sumud Flotilla. The flotilla had set out to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza amid the blockade and conflict in the region, but was detained by Israeli forces on the grounds that its entry into restricted waters was unauthorized.
Once intercepted, they were transferred to Ashdod, Israel’s main port, and then taken to the maximum security prison of Ketziot. Located in the Negev desert in the south of the country, near the border with Egypt, Ketziot is considered the largest prison in Israel.
On Monday, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the manner in which the flotilla was intercepted and reinforced her government’s support for Palestine.
“We didn’t approve from the very beginning of the way this group of people carrying humanitarian aid was intercepted,” she said. “Together with other countries we have filed a complaint with The Hague.”
With reports from El Universal and El País
