{"id":640586,"date":"2026-04-30T13:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640586\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T13:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T13:08:08","slug":"at-least-six-australian-activists-detained-by-israel-navy-after-gaza-flotilla-boats-intercepted-gaza-flotilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640586\/","title":{"rendered":"At least six Australian activists detained by Israel navy after Gaza flotilla boats intercepted | Gaza flotilla"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of a Newcastle man among at least six Australians onboard boats that were intercepted by Israeli navy personnel<\/a> in international waters has issued a tearful plea for his safety and lashed out at the Australian government for not intervening.<\/p>\n

More than 50 boats set sail to Gaza from Italy on Monday as part of the Global Sumud flotilla<\/a> in the hope of delivering 500 tonnes of aid and volunteers to the Gaza Strip, which remains under naval blockade by Israel.<\/p>\n

Among those onboard the ships were 14 Australian citizens<\/a>. On Thursday afternoon, Alexa Stewart, a spokesperson for the flotilla, said just two Australians \u2013 Jews Against the Occupation member Anny Mokotow and Brisbane resident Sam Watson \u2013 remained in communication and were still sailing to Gaza after 22 boats were intercepted in international waters west of the Greek island of Crete.<\/p>\n

CCTV footage posted online shows members of the IDF boarding flotilla vessels sailing to Gaza, which had 14 Australians onboard. Photograph: Global Sumud Flotilla\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Stewart has alleged at least six Australians have been detained by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), including Newcastle climate activist Zack Schofield, University of Sydney student and Wiradjuri, Ngiyampaa and Wailwan man Ethan Floyd, Neve O\u2019Connor, Dr Bianca Webb-Pullman, Surya McEwen<\/a> and Cameron Tribe.<\/p>\n

Schofield\u2019s partner, Sarah, said on Thursday that she wanted \u201cevery Australian to understand how scary this is\u201d.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI got a text message telling me that he was OK and he loved me,\u201d she said. \u201cThen 15 minutes later I saw a video of him being abducted. How would you feel if that was your partner? Or your son? \u2026 How would you feel?\u201d<\/p>\n

CCTV footage posted online showed members of the IDF boarding the six Australians\u2019 vessels. Afterwards, pre-recorded messages were published to social media announcing they had been \u201ckidnapped \u2026 against my will\u201d.<\/p>\n

The remaining vessels carrying Australians had lost communication for at least four hours and were presumed to have been intercepted.<\/p>\n

The Guardian has not independently confirmed whether the Australians are now detained by Israel<\/a> or the status of the vessels.<\/p>\n

The Israeli foreign ministry posted to X that it had found condoms and drugs onboard the \u201cPR stunt flotillas\u201d, a claim disputed by the flotilla\u2019s media spokespeople.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m furious that our government hasn\u2019t called me back yet\u2019\u2026 Joanne and Peter Schofield, parents of Newcastle climate activist Zack Schofield. Photograph: Dan Himbrechts\/AAP<\/p>\n

Schofield\u2019s parents, Joanne and Peter Schofield, said they were attempting to contact the foreign minister, Penny Wong.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s on the flotilla because he is kind, smart and caring,\u201d Joanne said between tears.<\/p>\n

She said it was their expectation that the Australian government would \u201cdo everything they can\u201d to secure the activists\u2019 safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really upset, this is very, very frightening,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m furious that our government hasn\u2019t called me back yet, hasn\u2019t said anything to how they\u2019re ensuring \u2026 the Australians are safe, are being treated well, and will be released safely immediately \u2026 I want a response and I want it right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zack Schofield speaking in Sydney before flying to Italy for the flotilla. Photograph: Supplied<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said officials were \u201curgently seeking an update\u201d from Israeli authorities and were \u201cready to provide consular assistance to any affected Australians\u201d.<\/p>\n

But they said their \u201cability to provide support in Israel and Palestine is limited at this time due to the conflict in the Middle East\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to urge Australians not to join others seeking to break the Israeli naval blockade as they will be putting themselves and others at risk of injury, death, arrest or deportation,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the Global Sumud flotilla alleged activists, who are representing 55 countries, had been \u201cthreatened at gunpoint\u201d while \u201cengaged in legally protected activity under international maritime law\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cEarlier, multiple flotilla boats reported radio communications jamming. Military drones and vessels were sighted. An [Israel occupation forces] vessel ordered the flotilla to divert aid through Israeli-controlled channels,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

The previous Sumud flotilla in October 2025 resulted in seven Australians being detained<\/a> by IDF, including McEwen.<\/p>\n

Wong, the Israeli foreign ministry and the Israeli embassy were approached for comment. The Times of Israel<\/a> reported that \u201csecurity sources\u201d confirmed the Israeli navy began intercepting the flotilla late on Wednesday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of a Newcastle man among at least six Australians onboard boats that were intercepted by Israeli…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":640587,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-640586","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640586","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=640586"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/640586\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/640587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=640586"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=640586"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=640586"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}