{"id":85505,"date":"2025-09-25T21:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/85505\/"},"modified":"2025-09-25T21:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-25T21:18:07","slug":"gaza-flotilla-on-way-to-deliver-aid-expecting-more-violent-attacks-at-sea-shortly-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/85505\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaza flotilla on way to deliver aid expecting more \u2018violent attacks\u2019 at sea shortly \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organisers of a flotilla of boats attempting to break Israel\u2019s<\/a> naval blockade of Gaza<\/a> by bringing in humanitarian supplies are expecting imminent further \u201cviolent attacks\u201d.<\/p>\n

More than 20 Irish citizens are among about 500 people travelling with the Global Sumud Flotilla of 50 boats, which was due to be joined by Italian and Spanish naval vessels after organisers appealed for assistance following night-time drone attacks in the Mediterranean.<\/p>\n

T\u00e1naiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris described the situation as \u201cgravely worrying\u201d. He said he had discussions with other countries about the \u201coptions\u201d available if Israel does breach international law.<\/p>\n

Caitr\u00edona Graham (36), an activist originally from Dublin, who is on board one of the boats, said: \u201cWhat we have heard from a few different governments is that the Israeli government reached out to them and warned of a potential escalation of attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flotilla organisers issued a statement to say they had \u201cgathered credible intelligence indicating Israel is likely to direct violent attacks on the flotilla within the next 48 hours \u2013 including the use of heavier weapons that could sink boats and\/or cause injuries and fatalities\u201d.<\/p>\n

Graham said drones had been sighted over the boats on most nights since they set sail and the fleet had been attacked with \u201cexplosive devices\u201d early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was this very loud, almost punch to the chest sensation, alongside the bang and the flash,\u201d Graham said.<\/p>\n

The Israeli foreign ministry declined to comment on whether it was responsible for drone attacks. \u201cIsrael will stop the vessels … while doing the utmost to protect the passengers,\u201d foreign ministry director general Eden Bar Tal told reporters, claiming the flotilla was \u201corganised by Hamas<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Spanish warship to protect Gaza flotilla carrying Irish and international activists<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

This was rejected by flotilla organisers. \u201cThese are recycled lies designed to justify violence before it happens,\u201d steering committee member Yasemin Acar said.<\/p>\n

The Italian government announced it would send a second naval ship to protect its citizens on board the flotilla on Thursday after it came under mounting public pressure from a general strike and dock workers who threatened to shut down trade through the port of Genoa.<\/p>\n

In an address to parliament, defence minister Guido Crosetto urged flotilla organisers to deliver their aid to Cyprus<\/a> for onward forwarding to Gaza.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate is worrying and must I say that we are unable to guarantee the safety of vessels outside international waters. I want to be clear about this,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce you enter waters considered Israeli, you are completely out of our control and ability to act.\u201d<\/p>\n

Previous flotillas that have attempted to break Israel\u2019s naval blockade of Gaza, declared in 2009, have been intercepted by Israeli forces and their passengers detained and deported.<\/p>\n

Chris Andrews<\/a>, a Sinn F\u00e9in<\/a> senator on board and who was on four previous Gaza flotillas, said his boat suffered \u201cexplosions\u201d on the upper deck at 2am on Wednesday and that boat communications were \u201cjammed\u201d and made to play Abba songs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really important to stress that this is a completely non-violent, non-aggressive peace mission and it\u2019s about delivering aid,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have medical aid. We have baby formula and we have some rice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Harris said his officials were in \u201cdirect contact\u201d with the Irish people on the flotilla. <\/p>\n

\u201cNow, we\u2019ve always made the point, and I\u2019m very supportive of what the people on the flotilla are trying to do, so I don\u2019t say this as any criticism at all, but we\u2019ve always been very clear it\u2019s a very dangerous place to travel to,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHaving said that, that doesn\u2019t in any way, shape or form, allow anybody breach international law. And Israel has to know, in the strongest possible terms, that any breaches of international law will be taken extraordinarily seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Harris said he did not wish to say what the response might be but he had \u201cspoken to a few of my counterparts about the various options that could be available to countries if Israel does breach or does take further breaches of international law\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Organisers of a flotilla of boats attempting to break Israel\u2019s naval blockade of Gaza by bringing in humanitarian…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,13,14,38531,6,11,12,15,16,5,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-85505","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-featured-news","11":"tag-featurednews","12":"tag-global-sumud-flotilla","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-top-stories","20":"tag-topstories","21":"tag-world","22":"tag-world-news","23":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}