On Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry alleged that the flotilla was “organised by Hamas”.
“Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade,” it warned.
“If the flotilla participants’ genuine wish is to deliver humanitarian aid rather than serve Hamas, Israel calls on the vessels to dock at the Ashkelon Marina and unload the aid there, from where it will be transferred promptly in a co-ordinated manner to the Gaza Strip.”
The GSF has said its goal is to “break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people”.
Two weeks ago, it reported that two vessels were targeted in separate drone attacks while anchored off Tunisia. Tunisian authorities said they were investigating the claims.
In June, Thunberg was one of 12 people on board a Gaza-bound aid ship, the Madleen, that was intercepted by Israeli forces about 185km west of Gaza.
Another vessel carrying 21 people, the Handala, was intercepted about 75km off Gaza in July.
The GSF’s boats set sail after experts from the UN-backed Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) confirmed that there was a famine in Gaza City and warned that it could spread to central and southern Gaza within weeks.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry has said at least 440 Palestinians have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war, including 162 since the famine declaration.
A spokesman for UN human rights chief Volker Türk said he had called on Israel to “urgently lift the blockade on Gaza and allow the entry of life-saving material through all means possible”.
As the occupying power, he added, Israel “must ensure food and medical supplies for the population to the fullest extent of the means available, or facilitate impartial humanitarian relief schemes, delivered rapidly and without hindrance”.
Israel has insisted it acts in accordance with international law and facilitates the entry of aid.
It has also disputed the IPC’s findings and the health ministry’s figures, and strongly denied the allegation – most recently made by a UN commission of inquiry – that its forces have committed genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government in Italy has until recently been seen as one of Israel’s closest allies in Europe, but Rome’s language on the war in Gaza has quickly hardened, largely because of domestic political pressure.
Opinion polls indicate a shift in attitudes against Israel, and two days ago unions were able to call out tens of thousands of Italians on to the streets of up to 80 towns and cities in protest.
Although Italy has not joined the UK and France in recognising a Palestinian state, Meloni has now moved much closer to their positions. She has suggested that she is not opposed to a motion in parliament recognising Palestine, as long as Hamas frees all hostages and that it is excluded from “all government processes”.
The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 65,419 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s health ministry.