Activists on a fleet of aid vessels sailing towards Gaza said late Wednesday night that Israeli Navy began intercepting the vessels as they approached Palestinian territory.
Also carrying the grandson Mandra of Swedish climate activists Greta Samberg and Nelson Mandela, as well as several European lawmakers, Global Smood Frotira is made up of almost 50 boats and 500 activists, with an iconic amount of humanitarian assistance.
Activists said Alma and Sirius’ vessels had been intercepted by the IDF.
Greg Stalker, a veteran American on one of the fleet’s boats, said about 12 naval vessels with the transponder turned off had approached it.
“They are calling our ship now and saying they are telling us to turn off the engine and wait for further instructions, or the boat is seized and we’ll face consequences,” he said in a volatile video when he wore a red life jacket.
In a post from X, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the fleet ships were “securely stopped” and “passengers have been moved to Israeli ports.”
It repeated the offer to transfer aid to Gaza via other channels.
Israel urges the fleet to turn back
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the fleet a provocation and warned him to halt aid and move it to Gaza via other channels.
“It’s not too late,” he said in an X post.
The Israeli government has accused some of the fleet of being linked to Hamas, but has provided little evidence to support the claim.
Activists strongly rejected the charges, saying Israel was trying to justify a potential attack on them.
European governments, including Spain and Italy, sent naval vessels to escort the fleet on part of their journey, urging activists to turn back and avoid conflict.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said late Tuesday that the fleet’s actions risked undermining President Donald Trump’s recent proposal to end the war in Gaza, and the Spanish prime minister defended them.
“If the Israeli government has allowed aid to infiltrate, it is a humanitarian mission,” Pedro Sanchez told reporters Wednesday.
“They pose no threat or danger to Israel,” he said.
International Maritime Law
The United Nations Marine Treaty provides that states have only jurisdiction of up to 12 nautical miles (19 kilometers) from the coast.
Generally, states do not have the right to seize ships in international waters, with armed conflicts being the exception to this.
Yubal Shani, an international law expert at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that Israel’s blockade of Gaza was “military justified” and that Israel could intercept vessels without prior warning as long as the ship was intended to break the siege.
The key to competition is whether the blockade is justified militarily or legally.
Israel has imposed an indefinite lockdown on Gaza since Hamas ruled the strip in 2007.
However, the fleet argues that they are civilian unarmed groups and that the passage of humanitarian assistance is guaranteed by international law.
Omer Shatz, an expert in Israeli international law who taught at the PO University of Science in Paris and co-submitted previous fleet cases in Israel’s Supreme Court, said that even if the siege of Gaza was considered legal, international law was both international Gaza and the people, even if it paved the Hynatarian roads to Gaza.
“If the basic needs of the population are not provided by the right to occupation, they have the right to provide humanitarian assistance, albeit under certain conditions,” Schatz said.
For example, Israel has the right to search on a ship carrying ships to carry ships. This verifies the cargo, as well as the aid of trucks across Gaza on land.
Additional sources •AP