Israel military stops Gaza flotilla

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens to Gaza (TMTG) said three boats had been intercepted and boarded by the Israeli military at 04:34 at 220km off Gaza in international waters in the Mediterranean.

The unarmed crew aboard the Gaza Sunbirds, Alaa Al-Najajr, Anas Al-Sharif include doctors, journalists, and elected officials. Humanitarian aid worth over $110,000 in medicines, respiratory equipment, and nutritional supplies for Gazans was confiscated.

“Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard these ships,” said David Heap, Canadian Boat to Gaza and Freedom Flotilla Coalition Steering Committee. “This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the ICJ’s binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. Our volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade. Their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.”

This attack follows the seizure and detention of those on board as well as an Israeli drone attack on the Conscience in European waters earlier this year, which left the vessel disabled and burning.

On board the Conscience was award-winning Bangladeshi photographer and activist Shahidul Alam, who has been posting on social media during the voyage approaching Gaza. It is estimated that it will take 11 hours before the Conscience arrives at Ashdod in Israel.

In a video released on Wednesday morning, he said: “If you are seeing this, we have been intercepted at sea, and we have been kidnapped by the occupation forces of Israel, a counry commiting active genocide in Gaza …”

Israel has defied the International Court of Justice’s binding orders to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, disregarded international law protecting civilian navigation, and dismissed the demands of millions worldwide calling for an end to the illegal siege and genocide, activists say.