Israeli forces were intercepting a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on Monday after it sailed from Turkey last week, the latest attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is one of several efforts since the start of the Gaza war to deliver aid by sea, with the last convoy intercepted by Israeli forces only last month.
“Global Sumud Flotilla is under attack!” the latest group wrote on X, saying four Israeli warships had approached their vessels.
“Military vessels are currently intercepting our fleet and IOF forces are currently boarding the first of our boats in broad daylight,” it added.
A website tracking the flotilla’s location showed several vessels being intercepted west of Cyprus.
“We demand safe passage for our legal, non-violent humanitarian mission. Governments must act now to stop these illegal acts or piracy meant to maintain Israel’s genocidal siege on Gaza,” they said.
“Normalisation of the occupation’s violence is a threat to us all.”
Israel did not confirm whether its forces were intercepting the vessels but earlier on Monday had vowed to prevent the convoy from reaching Gaza.
“Once again, a provocation for the sake of provocation: another so-called ‘humanitarian aid flotilla’ with no humanitarian aid,” the foreign ministry posted on X.
“This time, two violent Turkish groups — Mavi Marmara and IHH, the latter designated as a terrorist organisation — are part of the provocation,” it added, vowing not to allow any breach of the blockade.
“Israel calls on all participants in this provocation to change course and turn back immediately,” the ministry said.
– ‘Act of piracy’ –
Around 50 ships had departed from southwestern Turkey on Thursday.
Ankara slammed the interception, saying it was a “new act of piracy” by Israel.
Ties between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated since the Gaza war erupted.
“We are sure that at least two to three boats” have been stopped, Gorkem Duru, a member of the Turkey branch of the Global Sumud Flotilla group, who is not on board, told AFP.
“But some of them continue” towards Gaza, Duru said, adding that “communication links with the ships were cut off”.
Activist Suayb Ordu, who was aboard one of the vessels, told Turkish channel NTV that the activists had “no choice but to raise our hands and surrender peacefully without offering any resistance”.
“We are not going there to fight or commit acts of violence; we are trying to prove the opposite to the world.”
Another activist, Omer Aslan, told Turkey’s TRT television channel that armed Israeli soldiers carrying “long-barrelled weapons” would not break the activists’ determination to challenge the Gaza blockade.
“Israel’s attacks with these warships do not scare us. We will strive to break (the blockade),” the activist said.
The Israeli foreign ministry condemned the latest flotilla, saying it served the purposes of Palestinian movement Hamas.
Its aim was to “serve Hamas, to divert attention from Hamas’s refusal to disarm, and to obstruct progress on President Trump’s peace plan,” the ministry said.
Under a Gaza ceasefire plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, which took effect in October, the territory is to be fully demilitarised, including through the disarmament of Hamas.
– Aid –
The Israeli ministry rejected claims that Gaza was facing aid shortages.
“The Gaza Strip is flooded with aid. Since October alone, more than 1.58 million tons of humanitarian aid and thousands of tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza,” it said.
Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
During the Gaza war, triggered by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the territory has suffered severe shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies, with Israel at times halting aid deliveries entirely.
A previous flotilla attempt was intercepted last month in international waters off Greece, with most activists expelled to Europe.
But Israeli forces arrested two of them — Spanish national of Palestinian origin Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila — and brought them to Israel for questioning.
The pair were detained in a prison in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon before being deported several days later.
Dozens of other activists were taken to the Greek island of Crete and released.
Rights groups said the arrests of Abu Keshek and Avila were illegal and that the men suffered abuse while in Israeli detention.
Israeli authorities have rejected the abuse allegations but filed no charges against the pair.
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