Court Grants Ownership of Flotilla Boats to State

The Haifa District Court ordered 11 vessels seized during the October 2025 Sumud flotilla transferred to state ownership, according to a partial judgment issued Monday.

The court, sitting as an admiralty court, accepted the state’s request to confiscate the vessels, which were among dozens intercepted by the Israeli Navy on October 1-2 and October 8, 2025. The court said the boats had been on their way to violate Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The state filed its confiscation request on November 9, 2025, under the 1864 Naval Prize Act and wartime regulations governing admiralty proceedings.

The decision by Senior Judge Ron Sokol applies only to 11 vessels, identified in the case as numbers 26, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 and 51. It does not apply to all 52 vessels listed in the broader proceedings.

The state argued that the owners of the 11 boats had not responded to the confiscation request for about six months.

According to the ruling, formal notice was served to the owners of two vessels, Saad Umm and Alaa Al Najjar, but no response was filed. For the other vessels, the state said it was unable to complete formal service. French authorities did not provide ownership details for several boats, two vessels were owned by Libyan owners who could not be served, and the owner of Soul of My Soul, which sailed under an Italian flag, could not be located despite attempts to find an address.

Sokol accepted the state’s position, ruling that although formal service had not been completed for every vessel, there was “no doubt” the owners knew the boats had been seized. He cited the public attention surrounding the interception and the fact that the vessels had been held by the state for more than six months.

“The owners’ disregard of the confiscation proceedings for such a long period indicates that they do not object to the confiscation request,” Sokol wrote.

The judge said that under maritime prize law, the state must turn to the court without delay after seizing a vessel so the court can determine what should be done with it. Because many months had passed since the seizure, he ruled that confiscation and transfer to state ownership were appropriate.

The transfer will not take effect immediately. Sokol ordered the state to first submit or correct a survey identifying the vessels, after finding inconsistencies between the names and numbers in the confiscation request and those in the survey previously submitted by the state.

Once the corrected survey is filed, ownership of the 11 vessels will be transferred to the state. The state must update the court within 15 days of filing the survey and completing the transfer.

The ruling comes as Israel again faces international scrutiny over Gaza-bound flotillas, after the Navy intercepted the latest Global Sumud Flotilla this week. The Foreign Ministry said all 430 activists aboard the current flotilla were being brought to Israel, while organizers said all 50 vessels were intercepted. Israeli officials have described the mission as a public-relations operation serving Hamas, while activists said they were seeking to challenge the blockade and deliver humanitarian aid.