Israeli forces raid Global Sumud Flotilla boats in international waters
Students march during a protest to condemn the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla by Israeli army in Turin on 2 October 2025
Al Jazeera reports on 29 April 2026:
Israeli military forces have intercepted boats travelling with the Global Sumud Flotilla, using drones, communications jamming technology and armed raiding parties to halt the humanitarian fleet in the middle of the Mediterranean, according to organisers and Israeli media.
“Our boats were approached by military speedboats, self-identified as ‘Israel’, pointing lasers and semi-automatic assault weapons, ordering participants to the front of the boats and to get on their hands and knees,” the Global Sumud Flotilla aid mission said on Thursday.
According to the organisation’s Flotilla Tracker map, 22 boats have been intercepted by the Israeli military while 36 are still sailing towards Gaza. “Israeli military boats have illegally surrounded the flotilla in international waters and threatened kidnapping and violence,” the flotilla said in a post on social media. “Governments must act now to protect the flotilla.”
Israel Army Radio cited an Israeli source as saying that Israel has begun seizing control of the aid ships heading towards Gaza. kidnapping on the high seas,Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon said in a post on social media that the flotilla was “stopped before reaching our area” and that Israeli soldiers were acting with “determination dealing with a group of delusional attention-seeking agitators”.
Gur Tsabar, a spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla, described Israel’s boarding of its vessels as “a straight-up attack on unarmed civilian boats in international waters”. Speaking to Al Jazeera from Toronto, Canada, Tsabar said the sea assault was taking place “hundreds of miles from Israel”, with the flotilla being “surrounded and threatened at gunpoint”.