Israel stops 13 Gaza aid boats, organisers say, sparking international criticism

(Reuters) -Israeli forces have stopped 13 boats carrying foreign activists and aid bound for Gaza, but 30 boats are continuing to sail towards the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave, flotilla organisers said on Thursday.

A video from the Israeli foreign ministry verified by Reuters showed the most prominent of the flotilla's passengers, Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.

"Several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port," the Israeli foreign ministry said on X. "Greta and her friends are safe and healthy."

The Global Sumud Flotilla, transporting medicine and food to Gaza, consists of more than 40 civilian boats with about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists.

The flotilla put out several videos on Telegram with messages from individuals aboard the various boats, some holding their passports and claiming they were abducted and taken to Israel against their will, and reiterating that their mission was a non-violent humanitarian cause.

The flotilla is the most high-profile symbol of opposition to Israel's blockade of Gaza.

Its progress across the Mediterranean Sea garnered international attention as nations including Turkey, Spain and Italy sent boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance, even as it triggered repeated warnings from Israel to turn back.

Turkey’s foreign ministry called Israel’s “attack” on the flotilla “an act of terror” that endangered the lives of innocent civilians.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered the expulsion of Israel’s entire diplomatic delegation on Wednesday following the detention of two Colombians in the flotilla. Israel has not had an ambassador in Colombia since last year.

Petro called the detentions a potential “new international crime” by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanded the release of the Colombians. He also terminated Colombia’s free trade agreement with Israel.

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday condemned Israel’s interception of the flotilla, adding Israeli forces had detained eight Malaysians.

"By blocking a humanitarian mission, Israel has shown utter contempt not only for the rights of the Palestinian people but also for the conscience of the world," Anwar, whose country is predominantly Muslim, said in a statement.

Israel's interception of the flotilla sparked protests in Italy and Colombia.

Israel's navy had previously warned the flotilla it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked them to change course. It had offered to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.

30 BOATS SAILING TOWARDS GAZA

The flotilla is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war.

The flotilla's organisers denounced Wednesday's raid as a "war crime." They said the military used aggressive tactics, including the use of water cannon, but that no one was harmed.

"Multiple vessels ... were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli Occupation Forces in international waters," the organisers said in a statement.

The boats were about 70 nautical miles off the war-ravaged enclave when they were intercepted, inside a zone that Israel is policing to stop any boats approaching. The organisers said their communications had been scrambled, including the use of a live camera feed from some of the boats.

According to the flotilla's ship tracking data, 13 boats had been intercepted or stopped as of early Thursday. Organisers have remained defiant, saying in a statement that the flotilla "will continue undeterred".

Thirty boats were still sailing towards Gaza, flotilla organisers said in a post on Telegram early on Thursday, stating they were 46 nautical miles away from their destination.

The flotilla had hoped to arrive in Gaza on Thursday morning if it was not intercepted.

Israeli officials have repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt. "This systematic refusal (to hand over the aid) demonstrates that the objective is not humanitarian, but provocative," Jonathan Peled, the Israeli ambassador to Italy, said in a post on X.

Israel has imposed a naval blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007 and there have been several previous attempts by activists to deliver aid by sea.

In 2010, nine activists were killed after Israeli soldiers boarded a flotilla of six ships manned by 700 pro-Palestinian activists from 50 countries.

In June this year, Israeli naval forces detained Thunberg and 11 crew members from a small ship organised by a pro-Palestinian group called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as they approached Gaza.

Israel began its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The offensive has killed over 65,000 people in Gaza, Gaza health authorities say.

(Reporting by Mrinmay Dey, Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru, Alvise Armellini in Rome, Howard Goller in New York, Alex Cornwell, Tarek Amara, Emma Pinedo and Aislinn Laing in Madrid, Pietro Lombardi, Padraic Halpin and Jonathan Spicer; Additional reporting by Rozanna Latiff in Kuala Lumpur; Writing by Edward McAllister and Michael Perry; Editing by Aidan Lewis, Deepa Babington and Stephen Coates)