The Global Sumud Flotilla consists of nearly 50 boats and 500 activists and is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory.
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Activists on board a flotilla of aid ships sailing towards Gaza said late on Wednesday night that that the Israeli navy had begun intercepting their vessels as they approach the Palestinian territory.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which is also carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla as well as several European lawmakers, consists of nearly 50 boats and 500 activists and is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid.
Activists said that the Alma and Sirius vessels have been intercepted by the IDF.
Greg Stoker, an American veteran aboard one of the boats in the flotilla, said around a dozen naval vessels with their transponders off had approached it.
"They are currently hailing our vessels, telling us to turn off our engines and await further instructions or our boats will be seized and we will face the consequences," he said in a shaky video while wearing a red life jacket.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a post on X that flotilla ships have been "safely stopped" and that "passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port".
It reiterated its offer to transfer the aid to Gaza through other channels.
Israel urges flotilla to turn back
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar called the flotilla a provocation and warned them to stop and transfer their aid through other channels into Gaza.
"It is not too late," he said in a post on X.
Israel's government has accused some of the flotilla members of being linked to Hamas, but has provided little evidence to support the claim.
Activists have strongly rejected the accusations and said Israel was trying to justify potential attacks on them.
European governments, including Spain and Italy, which sent their navy ships to escort the flotilla during part of its journey, urged the activists to turn back and avoid a confrontation.
While Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said late on Tuesday that the flotilla's actions risked undermining US President Donald Trump's recent proposal for ending the war in Gaza, Spain's prime minister defended them.
"We must remember it is a humanitarian mission that wouldn’t be taking place if the Israeli government had allowed for the entry of aid," Pedro Sánchez told reporters on Wednesday.
"They present no threat nor danger to Israel," he said.
International maritime law
The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that a state only has jurisdiction up to 12 nautical miles (19 kilometres) from its shores.
In general, states don’t have the right to seize ships in international waters, though armed conflict is an exception to this.
Yuval Shany, an expert on international law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said that as long as Israel’s blockade of Gaza is “militarily justified” and the ship intended to break the siege, Israel can intercept the vessel without prior warning.
Whether the blockade is justified militarily or legally is a point of contention.
Israel imposed an indefinite blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control of the Strip in 2007, it says to prevent the transfer of weapons and military supplies to the territory.
But the flotilla argues they are a civilian, unarmed group and that the passage of humanitarian aid is guaranteed in international law.
Omer Shatz, an Israeli international law expert who teaches at Sciences Po University in Paris and co-litigated a previous flotilla case before the Israeli supreme court, said that even if the disputed siege of Gaza was considered lawful, "international law paves a humanitarian road from the high seas to Gaza — both in international and national waters off Gaza."
"If the basic needs of the population are not provided by the occupying power, there is a right to provide humanitarian aid, albeit under certain conditions," Shatz said.
Israel, for example, would have a right to board and search the vessels carrying aid to verify its cargo, similarly to what it does with aid trucks crossing into Gaza by land.