The organisers of a flotilla of aid vessels bound for Gaza said yesterday that Israeli forces had intercepted 39 of their boats in the eastern Mediterranean, while the remaining ships were continuing to sail toward the enclave.
Earlier yesterday, Israel’s foreign ministry had said on X that it “will not allow any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza”.
Ships from the Global Sumud Flotilla had set sail for a third time on Thursday from southern Türkiye, after earlier attempts to deliver aid to Gaza were intercepted by Israel in international waters.
Live video showed military vessels approaching the vessels yesterday.
“Military vessels are currently intercepting our fleet and (Israeli) forces are boarding the first of our boats in broad daylight,” the Global Sumud Flotilla initially said on X.
“We demand safe passage for our legal, non-violent humanitarian mission.”
The group said there were 426 people taking part in the 54-vessel flotilla from 39 countries.
It named 44 Turks among those on the intercepted vessels, some 463 km from Gaza.
Israel’s foreign ministry also called on “all participants in this provocation to change course and turn back immediately”.
A Turkish activist on board the L’Arq vessel in the flotilla said he does not fear interception by Israeli forces but voiced concern for those already seized, adding the crew on his boat expected interception as soon as they got close to Gaza.
“We don’t know where they are, we don’t know how many of them were actually taken,” Ahmet Soylemez said, speaking aboard the boat.
Türkiye’s foreign ministry condemned the Israeli intervention as a “new act of piracy”, adding Ankara was taking the necessary steps to ensure the safe return of Turkish citizens on board the flotilla in co-ordination with other relevant countries.
Speaking in Ankara, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan also condemned the intervention against the “voyagers of hope” in the flotilla and called on the international community to act against Israel’s actions.
The previous flotilla departed from Spain on April 12.
But Israeli forces intercepted vessels in that group, taking more than 100 pro-Palestinian activists to Crete and detaining two others in Israel.
Last October, Israel’s military halted another flotilla assembled by the same organisation, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 participants.
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