By Alvise Armellini, Edward McAllister and Silvio Castellanos
ROME/ATHENS (Reuters) -Israeli forces boarded boats with foreign activists carrying aid to Gaza and took them to an Israeli port, disrupting a protest that had become one of most high-profile symbols of opposition to Israel’s blockade of the enclave.
A video from the Israeli foreign ministry verified by Reuters showed the most prominent of the flotilla’s passengers, Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
“Several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port,” the Israeli foreign ministry said on X. “Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which was carrying medicine and food to Gaza, consisted of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists.
Its progress across the Mediterranean Sea had garnered international attention as nations including Turkey, Spain and Italy sent boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance.
Turkey’s foreign ministry called Israel’s “attack” on the flotilla “an act of terror” that endangered the lives of innocent civilians, while spontaneous protests broke out across Italy in response to the Israeli raid.
The mission triggered repeated warnings from Israel to turn back even as activists and governments lent their support.
BOATS INTERCEPTED INSIDE ZONE ISRAEL POLICES
The flotilla’s organisers denounced Wednesday’s raid as a “war crime”. They said the military used aggressive tactics, including the use of water cannon but that no one was harmed.
“Multiple vessels … were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli Occupation Forces in international waters,” the organisers said in a statement.
Ankara said that steps had begun for Israel to release Turks and others on board, while Spain called on Israel to protect the safety and rights of activists.
“Tonight’s reports are very concerning. This is a peaceful mission to shine a light on a horrific humanitarian catastrophe,” Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Harris said on X.
The boats were about 70 nautical miles off the war-ravaged enclave when they were intercepted, inside a zone that Israel is policing to stop any boats approaching. The organisers said their communications had been scrambled, including the use of a live camera feed from some of the boats.
According to the flotilla’s own ship tracking data, seven boats had been intercepted or stopped. Organisers remained defiant, saying in a statement that the flotilla “will continue undeterred”.
Israel’s navy had previously warned the flotilla it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked them to change course. It had offered to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.
TRYING TO BREAK THE BLOCKADE
The flotilla is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war.
The flotilla had hoped to arrive in Gaza on Thursday morning if it was not intercepted.
This was the second time the flotilla was approached on Wednesday. Before dawn, the mission’s organisers said two Israeli “warships” had encircled two of the flotilla’s boats and scrambled its communications.
Last week the flotilla was attacked by drones, which dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels, causing damage but no injuries.
Israel did not comment on that attack, but has said it will use any means to prevent the boats from reaching Gaza, arguing that its naval blockade is legal as it battles Hamas militants in the coastal enclave.
Italy and Spain deployed naval ships to help with any rescue or humanitarian needs but stopped following the flotilla once it got within 150 nautical miles (278 km) of Gaza for safety reasons. Turkish drones have also followed the boats.
Italy and Greece on Wednesday jointly called on Israel not to hurt the activists aboard and called on the flotilla to hand over its aid to the Catholic Church for indirect delivery to Gaza – a plea the flotilla has previously rejected.
Israeli officials have repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt.
“This systematic refusal (to hand over the aid) demonstrates that the objective is not humanitarian, but provocative,” Jonathan Peled, the Israeli ambassador to Italy, said in a post on X.
PAST ATTEMPTS TO DELIVER AID
At a press conference held by organisers on Wednesday, Francesca Albanese, the top U.N. expert on Palestinian rights, said any interception of the flotilla would be a “violation of international law,” since Israel had no legal jurisdiction over waters off Gaza.
Israel has imposed a naval blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007 and there have been several previous attempts by activists to deliver aid by sea.
In 2010, nine activists were killed after Israeli soldiers boarded a flotilla of six ships manned by 700 pro-Palestinian activists from 50 countries.
In June this year, Israeli naval forces detained Thunberg and 11 crew members from a small ship organised by a pro-Palestinian group called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as they approached Gaza.
Israel began its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The offensive has killed over 65,000 people in Gaza, Gaza health authorities say.
(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Alvise Armellini in Rome, Howard Goller in New York, Alex Cornwell, Tarek Amara, Emma Pinedo and Aislinn Laing in Madrid, Pietro Lombardi, Padraic Halpin and Jonathan Spicer; Writing by Edward McAllister; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Deepa Babington)
