Passengers aboard the Florida boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla are taken into custody as the boat is intercepted, October 2 at 8:02 am EEST. Courtesy of the Global Sumud Flotilla Tracker
Israeli naval forces are thought to have intercepted over 40 Global Sumud Flotilla boats over the course of Wednesday night and the early hours of Thursday, according to the GSF live tracker.
Over 100 people who were on board the captured boats are now in Israeli custody, as per the GSF.
Just one boat is still sailing toward the Palestinian coastline as per the GSF live tracker, although it remains a significant distance from Gaza, carrying activists seeking to break Israel’s blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The more than 40 boats intercepted since Wednesday night were the remainder of over 50 which took part in the flotilla, departing from sites across the Mediterranean Sea in August. Only one, the Mikeno, reached Gaza’s territorial waters before the Israeli navy’s interception.
Video footage from the interception overnight showed activists running security protocols donning lifejackets, raising their hands and throwing their mobile phones overboard as Israeli naval personnel boarded some of the vessels to arrest the crews. Footage showed Israel’s navy using water cannons to target some of the vessels.
Live-streams and communications were cut off on the boarded vessels, and the status of participants and crews remains unconfirmed, GSF stated.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry shared footage of crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and GSF organizers Wael Naouar and Thiago Avila, filmed on Israeli-held land, stating that the crew were being transferred “safely and peacefully to Israel, where their deportation procedures to Europe will begin.”
GSF announced last night that at least 20 Israeli vessels were visible, setting a course for the flotilla vanguard, the Alma, as the ships were in a 15-hour range of Gaza’s coastline.
Soon after, the flotilla vessels received a final warning from the Israeli navy to end their mission, threatening to overtake the ships.
GSF posted pre-recorded videos from the participants on 15 of the detained vessels, calling on their countries to demand their immediate safety and release. “This is an illegal attack on unarmed humanitarians. We call on governments and international institutions to demand their immediate safety and release,” GSF said.
But so far only a few officials have responded, among them Colombian President Gustavo Petro who ordered the expulsion of Israel’s diplomatic mission from Bogota and the end of Colombia’s free trade deal with Israel. At least two Colombian nationals were on board flotilla boats.
Several other governments across South America also condemned the attack and demanded the safety of the passengers.
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim also criticized the interceptions, holding Israel accountable for the safety of Malaysian nationals who were detained on the flotilla mission. “By blocking a humanitarian mission, Israel has shown utter contempt not only for the rights of the Palestinian people but also for the conscience of the world,” he said.
Mass protests broke out immediately upon news of the interception, however. Thousands took to the streets in Rome and across Italian cities, while the General Confederation of Labor, Italy’s largest trade union, has called for a general strike on October 3 to condemn Italian complicity in the flotilla attack and the genocide in Gaza. Italy had withdrawn the naval ship it previously sent to accompany the flotilla just a day before the attack, as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called on the flotilla to stop its mission.
Mass protests also broke out in Turkey, Greece, Tunisia and Argentina.