‘Israeli’ forces have intercepted the final vessel of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, effectively halting a major international effort to challenge the blockade of the Palestinian territory.
Organisers of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla said Israeli forces boarded the Lina al-Nablusi in international waters on Tuesday and detained the six activists on board. The vessel was the last remaining boat from a flotilla of more than 50 vessels that departed from the Turkish port of Marmaris last week carrying humanitarian activists and solidarity campaigners.
According to organisers, Israeli naval forces began intercepting flotilla vessels on Monday in waters off Cyprus, detaining participants and preventing the convoy from reaching Gaza.
The flotilla was launched to challenge Israel’s long-running blockade of Gaza and draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis in the besieged enclave, where aid agencies have repeatedly warned of catastrophic conditions caused by war, displacement, and restrictions on the entry of food, medicine, and essential supplies.
The operation drew widespread international criticism. The foreign ministers of Türkiye, Spain, Jordan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Indonesia, Colombia, Libya, and the Maldives issued a joint statement condemning Israel’s actions as “blatant violations of international law and international humanitarian law.”
The ministers expressed concern over the safety of the civilian participants and called for the immediate release of all detained activists, stressing that their rights and dignity must be respected.
Among those reportedly detained was Margaret Connolly, a physician and sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. The Irish president said she was deeply concerned about her sister and the other activists aboard the vessel.
The interception comes amid growing global scrutiny of Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which has been in place since 2007. While Israel maintains that the blockade is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Palestinian armed groups, human rights organizations and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly described it as a form of collective punishment imposed on Gaza’s civilian population.
Reporting from Gaza, Al Jazeera noted that Israeli media characterized the operation as one of the largest naval interception campaigns against a Gaza-bound flotilla in recent years.
Shortly before the operation, Israel’s Foreign Ministry publicly ordered the flotilla to abandon its mission and turn back.
The seizure of the aid vessels is likely to further intensify international criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza and renew calls for an end to the blockade, which rights advocates say has contributed to a worsening humanitarian catastrophe for more than two million Palestinians.
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