{"id":466026,"date":"2025-10-01T14:58:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T14:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/466026\/"},"modified":"2025-10-01T14:58:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T14:58:12","slug":"bbc-verify-live-tracking-flotilla-carrying-greta-thunberg-and-activists-as-it-nears-gaza-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/466026\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Verify Live: Tracking flotilla carrying Greta Thunberg and activists as it nears Gaza coast"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u2018Less risky\u2019 to intercept Gaza flotilla nearer Israel, former Israeli intelligence chief sayspublished at 13:27 BST<\/p>\n<p>13:27 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-8kvzjk-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/24d2d5d4-d458-4196-aaee-113790d4fafc.png.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><strong>Thomas Copeland<\/strong><br \/>BBC Verify Live journalist<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The Global Sumud Flotilla says it has entered what it is calling the \u201chigh-risk zone\u201d 145 nautical miles from Gaza. It says that\u2019s where the Israel Defense Forces\u2019 navy has previously intercepted other flotillas trying to reach Gaza. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But a former Israeli naval intelligence chief has told BBC Verify that Israel\u2019s military may move to intercept the vessels closer to the coast due to the presence of ships from other navies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cIf I was the decision maker, I would engage them inside Israeli territorial waters in order to avoid escalation,\u201d Eyal Pinko told me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">\u201cThe Israeli navy has the full intention and the full will not to escalate with friendly navies and those who are on the ships,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">BBC Verify has been tracking reports that the flotilla was being followed by the Italian navy frigate Alpino and the Spanish patrol vessel Furor &#8211; both of which have now said that they will sail further towards Israel. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Military vessels tend to mask their Automatic Identification Signal (AIS), that we usually use to track ships, for security and operational reasons. However, flight-tracking data shows an ATR 42-600 reconnaissance plane from the Turkish navy is operating south of Cyprus, close to the flotilla\u2019s position. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Israeli news outlet YNet is reporting that an Israeli navy vessel has departed the port of Ashdod, north of the Gaza Strip, and will reach the flotilla\u2019s position in the coming hours.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">YNet also reported that local police forces are mobilising around 600 officers at Ashdod port. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Map showing the approximate location of the flotilla, the approximate area of Israel's naval blockade of Gaza, and the post of Ashdod\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/d2a77aba-1a6b-49b2-a4cf-c331288d5442.jpg.webp.webp\"  width=\"800\" height=\"531\" class=\"ssrcss-11yxrdo-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u2018Less risky\u2019 to intercept Gaza flotilla nearer Israel, former Israeli intelligence chief sayspublished at 13:27 BST 13:27 BST&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":466027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-466026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-news","9":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115299504397519960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}