{"id":467228,"date":"2025-10-02T01:32:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/467228\/"},"modified":"2025-10-02T01:32:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T01:32:11","slug":"pro-palestine-flotilla-heading-towards-gaza-harassed-by-israeli-naval-boats-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/467228\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro-Palestine flotilla heading towards Gaza \u2018harassed by Israeli naval boats\u2019 | Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019 communication systems as Italy and Greece reiterated calls for Israel<\/a> to guarantee the safety of those onboard.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s \u201clead boat for around six minutes\u201d while remotely disabling its communication systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the early hours of this morning, Israeli occupation naval forces launched an intimidatory operation,\u201d it said in a statement. The flotilla was on Wednesday north of Egypt about 140 miles (220km) away from Gaza<\/a>, where previous attempts have been intercepted in an area the activists consider to be a \u201cdanger zone\u201d.<\/p>\n

One of those onboard the lead boat, the Turkish activist Metehan Sar\u0131, told the Anadolu news agency that Israeli navy ships came within 5 to 10 metres of it in the early hours of Wednesday. \u201cThis was one of the biggest acts of harassment we have faced so far. They tried to scare us, but we weren\u2019t afraid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In a joint statement on Wednesday from their foreign ministers, Italy and Greece called on Israel to \u201censure the safety and security of the participants and to allow for all consular protection measures\u201d. 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\u2019s naval blockade of Gaza.<\/p>\n

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 \u201ca direct contravention of international human rights and humanitarian law\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur for Palestine<\/a>, criticised the Italian withdrawal. \u201cAs 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,\u201d she said in a post on X.<\/p>\n

Late on Tuesday night, the Spanish government said it had contacted the flotilla and \u201curgently recommended\u201d that it did not enter Israel\u2019s declared exclusion zone for the safety of everyone involved. Government sources in Madrid said that while the flotilla\u2019s mission was \u201claudable and legitimate\u201d, the lives of everyone in it had to be the priority.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Spain\u2019s TVE on Wednesday morning, Spain\u2019s digital transformation minister, \u00d3scar L\u00f3pez, said safety had to take precedence and defended the government\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople need to remember that what these people are doing is bringing food and medicine, and this isn\u2019t the first time that Israel has blockaded aid for the Palestinian people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that\u2019s a cause that couldn\u2019t 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\u2019t going to do is put a Spanish boat in these waters that have been declared an Israeli exclusion zone \u2026 We\u2019ve gone as far as we can and we\u2019re still there.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Activists, however, insist their operation is not about the aid \u2013 which they describe as largely symbolic \u2013 but about breaking Israel\u2019s \u201cillegal siege\u201d of the territory.<\/p>\n

The Italian Democratic party MP Arturo Scotto, speaking to La Repubblica onboard one of the flotilla\u2019s vessels, has acknowledged his fear as they approach Gaza but insists the mission will proceed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The flotilla was attacked last week by drones that dropped stun grenades and itching powder, causing minor damage but no injuries.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s 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\u2019s public broadcaster, Kan.<\/p>\n

In a post on X, Israel\u2019s foreign minister, Gideon Sa\u2019ar, said the flotilla\u2019s rejection of the Italian proposal to unload aid in Cyprus proved that \u201ctheir real purpose is provocation and serving Hamas\u201d.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Previous activist attempts to break the naval blockade on Gaza, illegal under international law, were stopped by force by the Israeli military.<\/p>\n

In 2010, 10 Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos who raided the Mavi Marmara ship leading an aid flotilla towards Gaza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pro-Palestinian flotilla heading to Gaza has said it has been approached and harassed by Israeli naval boats…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-467228","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\/115301996540726309","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467228","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=467228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}