WATCH: New Flotilla Intercepted
Israeli Navy Commandoes "Attack" Newest Flotilla - WATCH
Israeli forces intercept 9-vessel flotilla attempting to breach Gaza blockade, with activists claiming military attack. All passengers safe and awaiting deportation.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday that the Israeli Navy has thwarted a second major attempt in a week to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza, intercepting a flotilla organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The incident immediately drew accusations of a "military attack" from the activist group.
The nine vessels, carrying approximately 100 activists, had sailed from Italy two weeks prior, intending to challenge the Israeli naval restrictions imposed on the Gaza Strip since Hamas seized control in 2007.
Israel: "Another Futile Attempt"
The Foreign Ministry confirmed the successful interception, characterizing the mission as a failure and a deliberate provocation:
“Another futile attempt to breach the legal naval blockade and enter a combat zone ended in nothing. The vessels and the passengers are transferred to an Israeli port. All the passengers are safe and in good health. The passengers are expected to be deported promptly.”
The Ministry noted that all detained passengers were "safe and in good health" before being promptly processed for deportation. The IDF has yet to issue a comment on the operation itself.
Activists Claim Military Attack and Jamming
Earlier on Wednesday, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla used its social media channels to claim its vessels were under direct attack by the Israeli military. The group alleged that Israeli forces were jamming communications signals and had already boarded at least two of the boats sailing toward Gaza.
A screengrab from a live video circulating online even appeared to show an Israeli soldier smashing the CCTV camera of the "Gaza Sunbird" vessel with a gun during the interception.
Following the Greta Thunberg Incident
This intervention follows closely on the heels of another major maritime confrontation just last Thursday, when Israel stopped the 42-ship Global Sumud Flotilla, which included Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg among its 479 detainees. Most of those individuals have already been deported, though a handful, including a Spanish national accused of biting an Israeli officer, remain in custody.
Israel has maintained that such flotillas are not humanitarian efforts but orchestrated confrontations. Following the earlier Sumud incident, the Foreign Ministry released documents alleging direct Hamas involvement in organizing and financing the attempts to break the blockade, emphasizing that the boats carried no aid but sought to challenge the blockade's legality, which an independent UN inquiry upheld in 2011.