Israel intercepts Gaza aid flotilla near Crete, say activists
Activists sailing on dozens of boats attempting to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip to deliver humanitarian aid say Israeli forces intercepted them on Thursday, detaining the crews while the flotilla was sailing near the southern Greek island of Crete.
The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail earlier this month from Barcelona. Organisers have said more than 70 boats and 1,000 people from around the world would be participating, with more vessels joining the original boats as the flotilla sailed east across the Mediterranean.
Their attempt comes less than a year after Israeli authorities foiled another effort by the activist group to reach Gaza. “Israel’s actions mark a dangerous and unprecedented escalation, the abduction of civilians in the middle of the Mediterranean, over 600 miles from Gaza, in full view of the world,” the group said.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said in a post on X that it was taking about 175 activists from more than 20 boats participating in the flotilla to Israel. Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s Palestinian population.
Turkey’s foreign ministry condemned the seizure of the flotilla Thursday as “an act of piracy.” “By targeting the Global Sumud Flotilla, whose mission is to draw attention to the humanitarian catastrophe faced by the innocent people of Gaza, Israel has also violated humanitarian principles and international law,” the ministry said in a statement.
Turkish foreign ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli wrote on X that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had discussed the raid over the phone with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Albares Bueno.
Activists in Greece said they planned a protest rally Thursday afternoon outside the Greek foreign ministry in Athens, saying Israel’s interception of the boats occurred within the maritime zone that falls under Greece’s responsibility for search and rescue operations and that the country’s coast guard had not reacted.
