Gaza: Rima Hassan, back in Paris, assures that “the next boat is soon ready to leave”

French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan said upon her return to Paris on Thursday evening that there would be "as many boats as necessary to break" the blockade of Gaza, after being arrested by Israel on Monday following the boarding of a humanitarian sailboat on which she was sailing with other activists.

"I have a word to say to Israel. The next boat is about to leave," and "there will be as many boats as necessary to break this blockade," declared the France Insoumise representative, cheered upon her arrival at Place de la République by her supporters, after her expulsion by Israel and a turbulent return flight.

Rima Hassan arrived at Roissy Airport on Thursday evening after a flight from Tel Aviv to Paris that was disrupted by a "conflict with other passengers." "There was a conflict on board with other passengers (...) following a hostile movement by passengers," the source said, explaining that she had to be evacuated from the plane by border police.

Initially, this source said that Rima Hassan had to take refuge in the plane's toilet, something an LFI media officer disputed to AFP. Rima Hassan did not show up at arrivals at Roissy, where LFI representatives and pro-Palestinian activists were waiting for her, regularly shouting "Free Palestine" and "this is not a war, it's genocide!"

Other passengers left the same plane wrapped in the Israeli flag, raising their fists, some in response to the pro-Palestinian activists. Rima Hassan posted a photo of herself wearing a black and white Palestinian keffiyeh, making the victory sign, on her X account around 9:20 p.m., along with the message "See you soon at Place de la République."

Several hundred people gathered in the evening in this emblematic Paris square, some of them sitting on the statue where the words "Free Rima and Free Palestine" were graffitied, an AFP journalist observed. A delegation of a dozen LFI deputies was visible, including Eric Coquerel, Louis Boyard, Thomas Portes, and Sophia Chikirou.

Rima Hassan was arrested on Monday, along with 11 other people , after Israel seized the Madleen sailboat in international waters, about 185 km off the coast of Gaza, denounced as "illegal" by LFI.

These twelve activists and journalists (French, German, Brazilian, Turkish, Swedish, Spanish, and Dutch) left Italy on June 1st aboard the Madleen for the Gaza Strip. The operation aimed to "break the Israeli blockade" imposed on the Palestinian territory, ravaged by more than twenty months of war.

Israel is facing intense international pressure to end its military's daily bombardments of Gaza. On June 4, the UN denounced Israel's "deliberate" choice to deprive Gazans of "the means of their survival." Since the October 7, 2023, attack that killed 1,218 Israelis, Israel has waged bloody reprisals in Gaza, resulting in more than 55,207 Palestinian deaths, according to data from Hamas's Health Ministry, which the UN considers reliable.