A pro-Palestinian flotilla heading to Gaza has said it has been approached and harassed by Israeli naval boats that jammed one of its lead vessels’ communication systems as Italy and Greece reiterated calls for Israel to guarantee the safety of those onboard.
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), carrying about 500 people including the climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, said it had an encounter with Israeli navy vessels that circled the fleet’s “lead boat for around six minutes” while remotely disabling its communication systems.
“In the early hours of this morning, Israeli occupation naval forces launched an intimidatory operation,” it said in a statement. The flotilla was on Wednesday north of Egypt about 140 miles (220km) away from Gaza, where previous attempts have been intercepted in an area the activists consider to be a “danger zone”.
One of those onboard the lead boat, the Turkish activist Metehan Sarı, told the Anadolu news agency that Israeli navy ships came within 5 to 10 metres of it in the early hours of Wednesday. “This was one of the biggest acts of harassment we have faced so far. They tried to scare us, but we weren’t afraid,” he said.
In a joint statement on Wednesday from their foreign ministers, Italy and Greece called on Israel to “ensure the safety and security of the participants and to allow for all consular protection measures”. It also restated a call for the activists to hand over the humanitarian aid onboard to the Catholic church for it to distribute, which the organisers have rejected, saying their intent is to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.
The naval blockade was imposed in 2009 by Israel, an intensification of its 2007 blockade of Gaza in response to Hamas seizing control of the territory. It has been condemned on numerous occasions by the United Nations, which has called it “a direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law”.
The convoy is being shadowed by a Spanish naval ship providing cover in case of drone attacks. Until Tuesday, it was also escorted by an Italian warship that, according to organisers, offered participants the chance to abandon their vessels.
Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for Palestine, criticised the Italian withdrawal. “As the Flotilla prepares to enter Gaza waters with their humanitarian mission, the Italian government prepares to abandon them, leaving Israel free to commit further violations, and carry on the genocide undisturbed,” she said in a post on X.
Late on Tuesday night, the Spanish government said it had contacted the flotilla and “urgently recommended” that it did not enter Israel’s declared exclusion zone for the safety of everyone involved. Government sources in Madrid said that while the flotilla’s mission was “laudable and legitimate”, the lives of everyone in it had to be the priority.
They also said that the Spanish naval patrol boat Furor, which has been deployed to assist the flotilla, would not cross into the Israeli-declared exclusion zone, as doing so would put the vessel and its crew at risk. But they said the boat would remain in an operational radius and would be standing by if a rescue became necessary.
In an interview with Spain’s TVE on Wednesday morning, Spain’s digital transformation minister, Óscar López, said safety had to take precedence and defended the government’s decision.
“People need to remember that what these people are doing is bringing food and medicine, and this isn’t the first time that Israel has blockaded aid for the Palestinian people,” he said.
“And that’s a cause that couldn’t be more just and which deserves all our empathy and all our understanding. But the government has to make decisions and what the government isn’t going to do is put a Spanish boat in these waters that have been declared an Israeli exclusion zone … We’ve gone as far as we can and we’re still there.”
In recent weeks, the Italian government has repeatedly urged the flotilla to avoid confrontation with Israel and to deliver aid instead via Israeli or Cypriot ports.
Activists, however, insist their operation is not about the aid – which they describe as largely symbolic – but about breaking Israel’s “illegal siege” of the territory.
The Italian Democratic party MP Arturo Scotto, speaking to La Repubblica onboard one of the flotilla’s vessels, has acknowledged his fear as they approach Gaza but insists the mission will proceed.
“The flotilla has certainly already shown one thing to the world: the emperor has no clothes. Israel, a great military power, fears about 40 small boats? No, it knows that this mission has exposed its unworthy criminal lies.”
The flotilla was attacked last week by drones that dropped stun grenades and itching powder, causing minor damage but no injuries.
Israel’s navy has said it is preparing to seize control of the more than 50 vessels now within its interception range. The elite Shayetet 13 naval commando unit is reportedly on standby for the operation, which could involve towing ships to the port of Ashdod or sinking some at sea, according to Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan.
In a post on X, Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, said the flotilla’s rejection of the Italian proposal to unload aid in Cyprus proved that “their real purpose is provocation and serving Hamas”.
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has also called on the flotilla to halt its mission, warning that any attempt to break the blockade could jeopardise a recent US-brokered peace initiative between Israel and Hamas.
Previous activist attempts to break the naval blockade on Gaza, illegal under international law, were stopped by force by the Israeli military.
In 2010, 10 Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos who raided the Mavi Marmara ship leading an aid flotilla towards Gaza.
