Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country had successfully intercepted and turned back a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying activists, commending the country’s navy for the operation.In a post on X on Thursday, Netanyahu praised the Israeli Navy for stopping the vessels before they reached Gaza. “Well done to our Navy! I instructed them to prevent a Hamas-supporting flotilla from reaching the shores of Gaza. The mission was executed with complete success,” he said.“No ship and no Hamas supporter reached our territory, and not even our territorial waters,” Netanyahu added. “They were turned back and will return to their countries of origin. They will continue to see Gaza on YouTube,” Netanyahu added. The US state department also backed Israel’s actions. “The US condemns the Global Sumud Flotilla as a baseless, counterproductive stunt organised by a sanctioned pro-Hamas entity,” state department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said through a post on X. “Unlike organized assistance mechanisms coordinated with regional partners thanks to @POTUS’s peace plan, this flotilla circumvents mechanisms designed to ensure humanitarian assistance is received by civilians,” Pigott added. “Our allies should take decisive action against this stunt, and participants should face any relevant legal consequences.”The Board of Peace, set up by US president Donald Trump in January, described the Gaza-bound flotilla intercepted by Israel overnight as “love boat activism,” while pointing to its own efforts to scale up aid to the Strip since the October ceasefire.“Since the ceasefire last October, the Board of Peace has SIGNIFICANTLY scaled up support for the people of Gaza. Food aid is reaching 3 times more people than before. Hamas’ theft of aid has dwindled from 90% to less than 1%. According to the United Nations, nutrition has improved dramatically,” the board said through a post on X.Israeli forces intercepted more than 20 boats from a flotilla attempting to breach the naval blockade of Gaza near the southern Greek island of Crete, with authorities saying around 175 detained activists were to be transported to Greece.Activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla alleged that Israeli forces stormed their vessels overnight in international waters, smashing engines and detaining some of those onboard while they were sailing hundreds of miles from Gaza and Israel, as cited by AP. The flotilla set sail earlier this month from Barcelona, with organizers saying more than 70 boats and around 1,000 participants from across the world were expected to take part, as additional vessels joined the convoy en route across the Mediterranean.Flotilla organizers condemned Israel’s interception as “a dangerous and unprecedented escalation,” describing it in a news release as “the abduction of civilians in the middle of the Mediterranean, over 600 miles from Gaza, in full view of the world.”The interception drew criticism from Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, who accused Israel of violating international law.“Israel is once again violating international law by assaulting a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it,” Sanchez said through a post on X.Iran also condemned the operation, with foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei accusing Israel of carrying out “piracy” by intercepting and detaining activists aboard the flotilla, according to comments carried by IRIB broadcaster.Baghaei described Israel’s “attack” on the convoy as “a blow to the awakened conscience of humanity” and called for international pressure to secure the activists’ release.A fragile six-month-old ceasefire in Gaza has brought a halt to the most intense fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants in the Palestinian enclave. However, violence has continued at a lower level, with more than 790 people reported killed in Israeli attacks since the truce took effect, according to Gaza’s health ministry.In total, the ministry says at least 72,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, following the October 7 attacks.
