Israel intercepted aid flotilla

By Gregor Mayer

Tel Aviv (dpa) — The Israeli navy has intercepted a flotilla of ships carrying activists and humanitarian supplies bound for the Gaza Strip, according to the organizers.

“Global Sumud Flotilla intercepted by Israeli naval forces,” the group said in a brief statement late Wednesday on its Telegram channel.

Activists posted on social media that soldiers had boarded some of the vessels, while livestreamed footage showed others in life jackets apparently awaiting Israeli forces to do so.

The flotilla of more than 40 motorboats and sailing vessels had come within 70 to 80 nautical miles of Gaza when the Israeli operations began, activists said.

The flotilla set sail from Barcelona in late August. “Sumud” means steadfastness in Arabic.

Participants, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, say they aim to deliver humanitarian aid to war-ravaged Gaza and protest Israel’s military campaign in the sealed-off territory.

Offers to deliver the flotilla’s aid supplies to Gaza via an Israeli port have been rejected by the activists, who want to distribute the aid themselves.

Flotilla spokesman Thiago Ávila said the group refused the Israeli offer because humanitarian aid should not be handed to “the occupying power” in Gaza.

Palestinians, he said, had the right to control their own borders.

The Israeli government has made it clear that it will prevent this attempt, as it has with all previous efforts to break the blockade of Gaza. The government refers to the flotilla as a Hamas operation.

“The sole purpose of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla is provocation,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry said on X late Wednesday.

“Israel, Italy, Greece, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem have all offered and continue to offer the flotilla a way to peacefully deliver any aid they might have to Gaza. The flotilla refused because they are not interested in aid, but in provocation.”

“The Israeli Navy has reached out to the Hamas-Sumud flotilla and asked them to change course. Israel has informed the flotilla that it is approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful naval blockade. Israel reiterated the offer to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.”