TEL AVIV - (VIDEO) Over 250 right-wing activists were arrested Thursday morning while attempting to sneak into the Gaza Strip. The group, which included children and teenagers, told Ynet how they arrived in Gaza from Kfar Maimon.
“We marched all night thourgh the fields,” said a 19 year-old youth.
The arrested activists were placed on a bus, and caused it to swing from side to side in protest (see video).
Their arrest apparently only enhanced their determination to continue their struggle. “Never mind, with God’s help, we will return to Kissufim after we’re released,” said one activist.
Two members of the arrested group were charged in the Be’er Sheva's Magistrate's Court. One, a 14 year-old boy from the West Bank, was accused of attacking a female police officer. The other, a 24-year old male from the same northern West Bank settlement, was accused of puncturing the wheels of a police truck.
Four other suspects are also expected to face charges.
Many of those arrested refused to give their names to police, and many refused to sign statements declaring that they would not attempt to reenter Gaza.
The police decided to take a more lenient position and released most of the group without charges after they were questioned.
One of those arrested, a 19 year-old youth, told Ynet: “We set out from Kfar Maimon, with around 600 people, with the police watching us – they thought we were going home. We knew we were heading for Kissufim."
"We marched all night until we reached it, and two kilometers before the entrance to Kissufim we hid in the fields in absolute silence. We knew the police and army were looking for us with helicopters and drones and jeeps. After they passed, we continued. It seems they couldn’t find us from the air. But soldiers caught us in the grove where we were hiding.”
“The police treated us very unkindly. Only after our four hours did we get a little sandwich. I think that conditions are better in jail than in the Be’er Sheva police station, where we were interroraged," he said.
"The police tried to press us to sign declarations that we wouldn’t return to Kissufim. They promised us that if we signed, we’d be released immediately. I didn’t agree, what am I, a sucker? Let them interrogate me, let them arrest me. I am returning to Kissuffim.”
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