Prince William wraps up his South Africa trip with visit that reminded him of his rescue pilot days

SIMON'S TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Prince William rode on a sea rescue boat along part of the South African coast on Thursday as he wrapped up a four-day visit to Cape Town dedicated to promoting conservation and the battle against climate change.

William met with volunteers at the National Sea Rescue Institute station in Simon's Town near Cape Town before boarding the vessel for the short ride to Kalk Bay harbor. Wearing sunglasses and a bright red waterproof jacket, he stood on the top deck of the rescue boat as it pulled away from Simon's Town, the site of South Africa's top naval base.

William is in South Africa to promote his Earthshot environmental prize, which held its annual awards ceremony in Cape Town on Wednesday night. The prize launched in 2021 and awards $1.2 million in grants to five climate-friendly businesses every year.

The Prince of Wales, who trained as a Royal Air Force helicopter pilot and served in a search and rescue unit during his military career, asked the sea rescue volunteers in Simon’s Town about the training and support they receive.

One volunteer asked the prince if he'd done any rescue work and William replied: “I miss this life. Any chance to get back, I’ll take.”

“It was a wonderful visit,” said National Sea Rescue Institute CEO Mike Vonk, who showed William around NSRI “Station 10” at Simon’s Town and its operations room. “I think with the prince’s background in rescue services, he was really interested in the work we do, the operations we provide around the country, but particularly the opportunity to meet all of the volunteers.”

While William was largely watched by smiling locals who took photos, two protesters, a man and a woman, heckled him from afar in the Kalk Bay harbor and shouted at him to “go home.”

“You have no sovereignty here, you are not our king,” the woman shouted. “Get out of here.”

The protesters did not come close to William and yelled from well behind security barriers. They said they were descended from Indigenous people and were protesting against the legacy of colonialism in South Africa, which was a British colony for more than 150 years until 1961.

William’s father, King Charles III, was confronted by a similar protest on a visit to Australia last month when an Indigenous senator shouted at him “you are not my king.” Australia still recognizes the British monarch as its monarch. South Africa does not and is a republic.

William used his trip to South Africa to draw attention to a wide array of environmental issues, including the work done by conservation rangers, the threat from the illegal wildlife trade, and efforts in Cape Town to protect the Table Mountain National Park and its unique plants that aren't found anywhere else in the world.

On Thursday, William's schedule was dedicated to coastal conservation and sustainability, and he disembarked from the rescue boat to meet with a group of local fishermen at Kalk Bay. He learned how they are using new technology to help them fish sustainably and give customers more detailed information on where their seafood comes from, and how it is caught.

William's wife, Kate, and their three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, did not travel to Cape Town. Kate, Princess of Wales, has only recently returned to some public duties after undergoing chemotherapy for an undisclosed type of cancer.

AP Africa news: https://apnews.com/hub/africa

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales, is shown 2023 Earthshot finalist ABALOBI's game-changing technology to register and log catches, to local fisherman, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales, speaks to Co-owner of ABALOBI Serge Raemaeker, who were 2023 Earthshot finalists, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Well-wishers hold British and South African flags as they wait for Britain's Prince William, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales is handed a fish as he speaks to local fisherman, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales receives a gift from a local, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales, arrives on board a National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) boat to meet 2023 Earthshot finalist ABALOBI, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales, arrives on board a National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) boat to meet 2023 Earthshot finalist ABALOBI, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, the Prince of Wales, arrives on board a National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) boat to meet 2023 Earthshot finalist ABALOBI, at Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William, right, speaks to local fisherman in Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, South Africa Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

A person holds a placard that reads "William, you have no sovereignty in our country" while a crowd gathers to see Britain's Prince William (unseen) meeting local fisherman in Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, South Africa Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William sails off with volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative, at Simon's Town harbour near Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

Britain's Prince William, center, is handed a fish as he speaks to local fisherman in Kalk Bay Harbour, near Cape Town, South Africa Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool Photo via AP)

Britain's Prince William shares a laugh with one of the volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative near Simon's Town harbour, in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

Britain's Prince William waves to well-wishers during his visit with volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative, at Simon's Town harbour near Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

Britain's Prince William meets volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative at Simon's Town harbour in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

Britain's Prince William meets volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative at Simon's Town harbour in Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

Britain's Prince William sails off with volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative, at Simon's Town harbour near Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

Britain's Prince William sails off with volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative, at Simon's Town harbour near Cape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

Britain's Prince William sails off with volunteers of the National Sea Rescue Initiative, at Simon's Town harbour nearCape Town, South Africa, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, Pool)

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli airstrikes killed at least 26 people across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, hitting Hamas security officers and an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone, as the daily bombardment continues and the latest efforts toward a ceasefire appear to have stalled.

“Everyone was taking shelter in their tents from the cold, and suddenly we found the world turning upside down. Why, and for what?” said Ziyad Abu Jabal, displaced from Gaza City, after the strike in the seaside humanitarian zone known as Muwasi.

Hundreds of thousands of displaced people are huddling in Muwasi in damp winter weather.

The early morning strike there killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior Hamas police officers.

Israel’s military said it targeted a senior officer in the Hamas-run police force. It said he was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces.

Another Israeli strike killed at least eight Palestinians in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The men were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. An Associated Press reporter there confirmed the toll.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strike.

In southern Gaza, Israel’s military killed five policemen in eastern Khan Younis. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the strike targeted the head of the Hamas internal security force in southern Gaza.

“Where did we find him? Where else, but of course hiding in the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, where Gazans are sheltering from this war,” Mencer said.

Israel has repeatedly targeted the police in Gaza during 15 months of war, contributing to a breakdown of law and order in the territory that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. Israel accuses the militant Hamas group of hijacking aid for its own purposes.

The Hamas-run government had a police force numbering in the tens of thousands that maintained a high degree of public security before the war, while also violently suppressing dissent. Now officers have largely vanished from the streets in many areas.

Meanwhile, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a group of people walking in the street in Maghazi in central Gaza. Their bodies were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

The war was sparked by Hamas-led militants’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack into Israel. The militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in retaliation has killed over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory's Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half the dead. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally.

Israel's military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas. The army says it has killed 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times.

Hunger is widespread. Children, some barefoot or in sandals, waited in line with metal pails or other containers at a food distribution center in Deir al-Balah on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was released from the hospital Thursday after having prostate surgery Sunday.

Doctors at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital said Netanyahu was recuperating well, although he has a period of recovery ahead. Despite doctor’s orders to remain hospitalized, the 75-year-old leader briefly left the facility to participate in a vote in Israel’s parliament on Tuesday.

Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed. But the militant group, while greatly weakened, has repeatedly regrouped in parts of the territory — notably the largely isolated north — after Israeli forces withdraw.

Khaled reported from Cairo.

Follow AP coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Palestinians collect donated food at a food distribution center in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Two Palestinian boys wait to collect donated food at a food distribution center in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli soldier weeps in front of a memorial at the site of the Nova music festival, where hundreds of revelers were killed or kidnapped by Hamas, near Kibbutz Re'im in southern Israel, close to the Gaza Strip, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A man mourns over the body of a Palestinian man killed during an Israeli army strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. The strike killed at least eight men members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians pray over the body before the funeral of a man killed during an Israeli army strike in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025.(AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A body is carried to the area outside the hospital after an Israeli army strike early Thursday morning in the Muwasi area, in Khan Younis in the central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. According to Palestinian medical officials, the airstrike killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior police officers, in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Palestinians inspect the site of an earlier Israeli army strike in the Muwasi area, in Khan Younis, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. According to Palestinian medical officials, the airstrike killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior police officers, in an Israeli-designated humanitarian zone in the Gaza Strip. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

An Israeli soldier covers his ears as an artillery gunner fires into the Gaza Strip from a position in southern Israel, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025.(AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Israeli soldiers stand in a bullet-ridden house during a tour for army personnel to observe the damage caused by the Oct. 7 Hamas onslaught at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, near the Israeli-Gaza border, in Israel, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Palestinian girls collect donated food at a food distribution center in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A destroyed part of Gaza City as seen from southern Israel, Thursday Jan. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov))