ATHENS: Dozens of activists on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off Crete, disembarked on Friday in the Greek island, an AFP journalist saw. Escorted by Greek coast guards, around 175 activists, the majority of them nationals of European countries, were taken in four coaches to the port of Atherinolakkos, in the southeast of the island. As they approached the port, the activists chanted &ldquo;Free Palestine,&rdquo; AFP saw. Israel&rsquo;s foreign ministry earlier said around 175 activists had been taken off more than 20 boats on Thursday. Flotilla organizers put the number at 211. The flotilla comprising more than 50 vessels set sail in recent weeks from Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain, and Syracuse in Italy. Its aim, according to the organizers, was to break the blockade of Gaza and bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory. Israel controls all entry points to Gaza. It has been accused by the United Nations and foreign NGOs of strangling the flow of goods into the territory, causing shortages since the start of Israel&rsquo;s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas in October 2023. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein on Friday said: &ldquo;All the flotilla activists are now in Greece except Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila.&rdquo; Several European governments with nationals among those arrested have called on Israel to free the activists and called its action a flagrant contravention of international law. But the United States backed Israeli authorities, calling the flotilla a &ldquo;stunt&rdquo; and saying it expects allies to deny port access, docking, departure, and refueling to vessels participating in the flotilla. A State Department spokesman said Washington was exploring imposing &ldquo;consequences&rdquo; on those who support the flotilla. In the summer and autumn of 2025, a first voyage by the Global Sumud Flotilla across the Mediterranean toward Gaza drew worldwide attention. The boats in that flotilla were intercepted by Israel off the coasts of Egypt and the Gaza Strip in early October. Crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were arrested and then expelled by Israel.

FILE: The Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail from Barcelona towards Gaza, in Barcelona, Spain, on August 31, 2025. Hundreds gather at Moll de la Fusta to bid farewell to the flotilla, with dozens of boats and thousands of supporters wearing kufiyas (Palestin

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Dozens of activists on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which was intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters off Crete, disembarked on Friday in the Greek island, an AFP journalist saw.

Activists on Gaza aid flotilla detained by Israel disembark in Crete

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ISLAMABAD: Israel&rsquo;s parliament has approved a sweeping 2026 budget dominated by surging military spending, but opposition leaders say the plan amounts to &ldquo;looting public&rdquo; funds as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expands wars across Gaza, Lebanon and Iran. The budget passed narrowly, 62&ndash;55, just ahead of a legal deadline that would have triggered the government&rsquo;s collapse and early elections, highlighting the political fragility underpinning Netanyahu&rsquo;s coalition. The approved framework sets total spending at approximately $270 billion, with a sharp increase in defense allocations tied directly to Israel&rsquo;s widening regional conflicts. Under the plan, more than $10 billion has been added to military spending, bringing the defense budget to over $38 billion. The increase comes as Israel continues what it calls Operation &ldquo;Roaring Lion,&rdquo; its war with Iran, while maintaining ongoing military aggression in Gaza and along the Lebanese border. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich described the budget as a defining moment for the country. &ldquo;We have the capacity to reshape the Middle East. This budget positions the nation to win,&rdquo; he said, calling it a &ldquo;historic turning point&rdquo; for Israel&rsquo;s security and economic trajectory. But opposition leaders said the budget reflects a government prioritizing political survival over national interest. Former prime minister Naftali Bennett, widely seen as one of the leading challengers to Netanyahu in this year&rsquo;s elections, accused the coalition of diverting billions to maintain power during wartime. &ldquo;We are at war&hellip; But the government is doing something entirely different: looting the public purse $2.2 billion in political bribery just to preserve the coalition,&rdquo; Bennett said, describing the plan as the &ldquo;most reckless and anti-Zionist&rdquo; in Israel&rsquo;s history. Opposition leader Yair Lapid intensified the criticism, calling the budget &ldquo;the greatest theft in the state&rsquo;s history.&rdquo; He said, &ldquo;Six billion shekels are coalition funds that this government is allocating to itself &mdash; to corruption and draft evasion,&rdquo; adding that &ldquo;the Israeli public is not foolish&hellip; it understands that this budget is a windfall for the corrupt&hellip; celebrating at our expense.&rdquo; Yair Golan described the measure as &ldquo;a working plan for dismantling the State of Israel,&rdquo; accusing the government of shifting the burden of war onto ordinary citizens while shielding its political base. Despite sweeping 3% cuts across civilian ministries, the government approved substantial funding increases for ultra-Orthodox institutions and settlements in the occupied West Bank. Ultra-Orthodox parties are set to receive more than $750 million in additional funding for private schools, while long-term settlement expansion plans worth hundreds of millions of dollars remain intact. The anti-settlement group Peace Now condemned the allocations as &ldquo;daylight robbery of public funds&rdquo; benefiting a narrow segment of the coalition. The budget dispute has been sharpened by growing concern over military strain. Bennett pointed to warnings from the army&rsquo;s leadership, saying, &ldquo;While IDF Chief of Staff [Eyal] Zamir is crying out, &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t have enough soldiers to win,&rsquo; the government is transferring NIS 2 billion to yeshivas that educate people not to enlist.&rdquo; The controversy has been compounded by Netanyahu&rsquo;s delay of legislation that would require ultra-Orthodox men to serve in the military, a move widely supported by the broader Israeli public but opposed by key coalition partners. The financial debate unfolds against the backdrop of an expanding regional war that critics say Netanyahu has pursued aggressively. Since October 2023, Israel&rsquo;s war in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and devastated large parts of the territory, triggering a severe humanitarian crisis. Fighting has also intensified along the Lebanese border against Hezbollah, while a direct war with Iran since late February, backed by the United States, has opened a new and volatile front. The widening conflict has drawn international outrage, particularly following a strike on an Iranian school that killed over 150 schoolgirls, further amplifying concerns over civilian casualties and the conduct of the war. For opposition figures, the 2026 budget encapsulates a broader pattern under Netanyahu: escalating wars abroad while redistributing resources at home to sustain a fragile political coalition. As Israelis face rising living costs, extended reserve duty and mounting casualties, critics argue the government is deepening both the external conflict and internal divisions.

Israeli lawmakers approved the 2026 spending plan, narrowly avoiding elections, as critics warn funds favor coalition allies despite cuts elsewhere and mounting strain from ongoing conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran.

Opposition slams Israel’s $270 billion budget, says Netanyahu ‘looting public’

JERUSALEM: Diplomats from 13 European countries and Canada on Saturday slammed growing &quot;terror&quot; by settlers against Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, after a surge in deadly attacks. Since the start of March, six Palestinians have been shot dead in settler attacks in the West Bank, according to a tally of data from the Ramallah-based health ministry. &quot;We strongly condemn increasing settler terror and violence by the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/un-expert-claims-israel-using-systematic-torture" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Israeli </a>security forces inflicted upon Palestinian communities,&quot; said a joint statement from the diplomatic missions of countries including France, Spain and Britain. &lsquo;Appalled by the killings&rsquo;&nbsp;&quot;We are especially appalled by the killings of Palestinians over these past weeks. This <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/palestinians-say-israeli-settler-fire-kills-two-in-west-bank" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">violence</a> by settler militias, aimed at taking over land and creating a coercive environment, forcing Palestinians to leave their homes, must end.&quot; The statement called on the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/gaza-civil-defence-says-israeli-strikes-kill-at-least-5" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">Israeli</a> authorities to &quot;prevent and prosecute the lethal violence, raids and attacks&quot;. &lsquo;Morally and ethically unacceptable&rsquo;Israel&#39;s military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir on Wednesday criticized the increase in settler attacks in the West Bank, calling it &quot;morally and ethically unacceptable&quot;. Alongside roughly three million Palestinians, more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements and outposts in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. More broadly, violence in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, has risen sharply since the October 7, 2023. It has continued despite the ceasefire and spiked since the start of the war against Iran. Over 1,000 Palestinians killed&nbsp;According to an AFP tally based on Palestinian health ministry figures, Israeli troops or settlers have killed at least 1,050 Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the Gaza war. Israeli troops last week shot dead two children and their parents in a car, Palestinian authorities said.&nbsp; The Israeli military and police said soldiers opened fire on a vehicle over a perceived safety threat, killing four people inside. Official Israeli figures say 45 Israelis, including soldiers and civilians, have also been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations.

Since the start of March, six Palestinians have been shot dead in settler attacks in the West Bank, according to a tally of data from the Ramallah-based health ministry.

Articles tagged with "Israeli War on Gaza"

Activists on Gaza aid flotilla detained by Israel disembark in Crete

Opposition slams Israel’s $270 billion budget, says Netanyahu ‘looting public’

European nations decry 'increasing settler terror' in West Bank

Activists on Gaza aid flotilla detained by Israel disembark in Crete