Kuwait confirms release of 2 nationals detained by Israel from Gaza aid flotilla

Kuwait confirmed on Saturday that Israeli authorities had released two of three Kuwaiti nationals detained during an attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international aid convoy heading to Gaza.

The two citizens “have been released and are on their way back to Kuwait,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Al-Yahya said in a statement carried by the state news agency KUNA.

He added that the Kuwaiti government has been “closely monitoring all developments related to the activists from the very first moment of their detention, in coordination with the concerned authorities.”

The minister affirmed Kuwait’s commitment to ensuring the safety of its citizens, saying efforts were continuing to secure the release and safe return of the third Kuwaiti participant.

Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla Wednesday night and detained more than 470 activists from over 50 countries while sailing to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.

It was the first time in nearly two decades of blockade that dozens of vessels simultaneously sailed toward Gaza in a coordinated attempt to break Israel’s siege of the coastal enclave, home to about 2.4 million Palestinians.

Israel has maintained the blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for almost 18 years.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed over 67,000 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it all but uninhabitable.