The US State Department condemned the lack of preventive action by its European allies regarding the activist flotilla that sailed from their ports towards Gaza and was intercepted by Israel in coordination with Greece:
“Consistent with international law, ports constitute internal waters over which coastal states exercise full territorial sovereignty. The United States expects all our allies to take decisive action against this meaningless political stunt by denying port access, docking, departure and refueling to vessels participating in the flotilla,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said.
The April 2026 Global Sumud Flotilla began its journey with vessels sailing from multiple European ports including Barcelona, Marseille, Syracuse, Augusta and Naples. Following the Israeli seizure of the boats, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said Israel’s interception was illegal and accused Jerusalem of violating international law by attacking a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it.
The Italian Government also condemned the seizure of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels, and called on the Government of Israel to “immediately release all the Italians illegally detained, to fully respect international law, and to guarantee the physical safety of those on board.”
The Meloni and the Sanchez governments seem to forget that under the terms of the San Remo Convention (paragraph 67A), ships can be intercepted if they have been warned and demonstrate a clear intention to violate a declared naval blockade. Therefore, on what basis do they speak of “illegitimacy” given that the issue is at least a matter of debate?
During a press conference, the Italian PM Meloni released a mild statement on the issue saying that “she continues to miss the usefulness of initiatives that do not bring benefits to the population of Gaza”.
The Italian and the Spanish governments must have been aware that the flotilla was heading into Israeli territorial waters where there is an ongoing armed conflict, for a solely provocative action, and that the Italian citizens on board were putting their own safety at risk. Therefore, as highlighted by the US Department of State, why weren’t any preventive actions taken?
In September 2025, the Israeli government released a report documenting Hamas’s involvement in the Global Sumud Flotilla’s initiatives, based also on documents found in Gaza. The governments of the countries whose ports were used by the flotilla had plenty of time to investigate and act. Instead, they preferred to wait, not intervene, and then blame Israel. The US State Department is therefore right to call for clarity and preventive measures.
Giovanni Giacalone is a senior analyst in Islamist extremism and terrorism at the Italian Team for Security, Terroristic Issues and Managing Emergencies-Catholic University of Milan, at the Europe desk for the UK-based think tank Islamic Theology of Counter-Terrorism, and a researcher for Centro Studi Machiavelli. Since 2021 he is the coordinator for the “Latin America group” at the International Institute for the Study of Security-ITSS. In 2023 Giacalone published the book “The Tablighi Jamaat in Europe”.