Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was not among the 21 activists released by Israel Tuesday. McKinney and the others were taken into custody Tuesday as the ship they were on attempted to defy a blockade of Gaza to deliver supplies. The Greek-registered Arion was seized in the Mediterranean, 23 miles off the Gaza coast. On Wednesday Israeli authorities released an American filmmaker and a Danish human rights activist, according to freegaza.org, the web site of the Free Gaza Movement, which organized the voyage opposing the blockade. Several other passengers, including McKinney, of Georgia, and 1977 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mairead Maguire, who co-founded a group that worked for peace in Northern Ireland. It isn’t the first time that McKinney has had an encounter with Israeli forces. In December, a small boat on which she was traveling collided with an Israeli naval vessel. “We are definitely going to go [back] even if we have to paddle across,” Greta Berlin, a Free Gaza Movement spokeswoman, told reporters in Cyprus. Spokesman Darby Holladay said the U.S. embassy has been in touch with Israeli authorities. “We understand that the passengers are safe and accounted for,” he said. Israel’s blockade of Gaza has been in effect since 2007.

The bloodshed in Gaza is flowing has been flowing at an alarming rate, a leading human rights groups says in a new report. Much of the bloodletting has been committed by Israeli troops during a winter offensive, according to Amnesty International, which says they killed hundreds of unarmed civilian adults and children, broke laws and committed war crimes during the onslaught. “Hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks carried out using high-precision, air-delivered bombs and missiles and tank shells. Others, including women and children, were shot at short range when posing no threat to Israeli soldiers,” the group says in its 117-page exposé. But the socio-political group Hamas and other Palestinian groups have inflicted their share of pain too, Amnesty International says. The human rights group says that they committed war crimes by firing hundreds of rockets into southern Israel, killing three Israeli civilians, injuring scores and driving thousands from their homes, according to the report. Amnesty International wants both the Israelis and Palestinians to permit independent investigations into the 22-day conflict, which spanned December and January. Israeli officials denounced the report’s findings. “The slant of their report indicates that the organization succumbed to the manipulations of the Hamas terror organization,” said a Israel Defense Forces news statement. “The Amnesty report ignores a critical aspect of Operation Cast Lead — Hamas consistently, deliberately and routinely violated international law, specifically the prohibition against the use of ‘human shields.’”

Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney was among several peace activists on a ship that was intercepted by Israeli forces Tuesday as they attempted to defy a blockade of Gaza, BBC News reported. This marks the second time over the past several months that McKinney, a former member of the Congressional Black Caucus, had an encounter with Israeli forces in the region. In December, the ship she was in collided with an Israeli naval vessel. The most recent encounter occurred as the Greek-registered Arion was in the Mediterranean Sea 23 miles off the Gaza coast, according to BBC. The vessel was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement told BBC. McKinney blasted the Israeli’s actions, calling them “an outrageous violation of international law against us.” The Israeli consulate general, however, accused McKinney of a “reckless political stunt. Once again former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and her fellow travelers have taken it upon themselves to disregard their own safety, as well as the safety of the vessel’s crew, by leading a boat into restricted waters,” the consulate general’s office in Atlanta said in a statement.

President Obama was lavished with praised following his call for world peace during a speech in the Egyptian capital of Cairo Thursday. “We hope that this important speech in Cairo will indeed lead to a new period of reconciliation between the Arab and Muslim world and Israel,” the Israeli government said in a statement. “We share President Obama’s hope that the American effort heralds the beginning of a new era that will bring about an end to the conflict and lead to Arab recognition of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people, living in peace and security in the Middle East. Israel is committed to peace and will make every effort to expand the circle of peace while protecting its interests, especially its national security.” Read more.