Barcelona, Spain – Activists said on a malfunction of the ships sailing towards Gaza late on Wednesday that the Israeli navy had begun to intercept their ships while they were approaching the besieged Palestinian territories.
Note: The video is from a previous report.
The global Somoud fleet, with Greta Thunberg, the grandson of Nelson Mandela, Mandilla Mandela, and many European legislators on board, consists of approximately 50 boats and 500 activists and holds a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid. She has been unwanted on its mission to break the Israeli siege of the coastal strip and reach the Palestinians.
Greg Stoker, the American veteran on a boat in the fleet, said about ten naval ships with their reception.
“They are currently our ships, they are asking us to stop our engines and wait for more instructions, or our boats will be seized and we will face the consequences,” he said in a fragile video posted on Instagram while wearing the red survival jacket.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on X that the navy had contacted the fleet to ask them to change the path and warn them that they are approaching the “active fighting zone.” She repeated her offer to transfer aid to Gaza through other channels. These calls chanted other European governments, including Italy, which sent a naval ship to follow the fleet of part of its journey, but stopped as it approached the shores of Gaza.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed the Israeli intervention and said that the process is expected to take 2-3 hours. He told State TV Rai that boats will be withdrawn to the Ashdod port in Israel and activists will be deported in the coming days. He also said that the Israeli forces were told “not to use violence.”
The fleet enters the “danger zone”
Ships were sailing in international waters in northern Egypt on Wednesday and entered what activists and others called the “danger zone” or “high risk zone”. While it is still in international waters, it is an area where the Israeli navy has stopped other boats that are trying to break the siege in the past, which were warned of the infection of its transit.
Overnight, activists said that Israeli warships were close to two of their boats, and they were spinning them and collecting their contacts, including live cameras on board.
“It was a work of intimidation. They wanted us to see them.”
After the close meeting overnight, the military ships eventually left and the fleet continued on its journey, and broadcast live cameras from many of its boats.
Creative trip
By Wednesday noon, the weather seemed more relaxed on the floors of some sailing boats that broadcast their flights during the live broadcast around the clock throughout the week. Some activists have held messages of solidarity with people in Gaza, and “Free Palestine!” On the camera. Music can be heard while playing in the background. Social media participants were also immersed with videos of their journey and their ongoing updates.
The group said that the fleet, if the crossbar, which started its journey from the Spanish port of Barcelona a month ago, was to reach the shores of Gaza on Thursday morning.
However, activists said this is unlikely and that they expected the Israeli authorities to try to stop them at any moment, as they did in previous attempts.
With the fall of the night, they discovered through the radar many microscopic ships approaching and put their lives before the imminent Israeli army arrived. As the Israelis approached the bright lights, some activists were able to spread the moment when they lived from their smartphones before throwing their devices in the water.
Israel and other governments urge them to return
Jideon’s Foreign Minister Sar described that the fleet was provoking and warning them against stopping and transporting aid through other channels to Gaza. “It was not too late,” was published on X.
The government of Israel accused some members of the fleet of enthusiasm, while providing few evidence to support this claim. Activists strongly rejected the accusations and said that Israel was trying to justify the potential attacks on it.
European governments, including Spain and Italy, who sent their naval ships to accompany the fleet during part of their journey, have urged activists to return and avoid confrontation. But while Prime Minister Italy, Georgia Meloni, said late on Tuesday that the fleet’s actions may risk undermining the recent proposal of US President Donald Trump to resolve the war in Gaza, the Prime Minister defended Spain.
“It must be remembered that it is a humanitarian mission that will not happen if the Israeli government allows aid to enter,” Pedro Sanchez told reporters on Wednesday. He added that the Spaniards will participate in full diplomatic protection.
“They do not represent any threat or danger to Israel,” he said.
What international maritime law says
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea states that the state has only a jurisdiction of up to 12 nautical miles (19 km) of its beaches. In general, countries do not have the right to seize ships in international waters, although armed conflict is an exception to this.
Joal Shani, an expert in international law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said that as long as the Gaza blockade in Gaza in Israel is “military justification” – aimed at preserving weapons – and the ship can break the siege, Israel can intercept the bowl after a prior warning. Whether the siege has a justification for militarily and that the legitimacy of the siege is a point of disagreement.
But the fleet argues that they are an unarmed civil group and that the approval of humanitarian aid is guaranteed in international law.
Omer Shatuz, an expert in Israeli international law, who is studying at the University of Sciences Po in Paris and participated in linking the previous Solla case before the Israeli Supreme Court, which is the Associated Press that even if the disputed blockade in Gaza is legal, “international law wears a humanitarian path from the supreme seas to gas – both of them in Waters Watts National.
“If the basic needs of the population are not provided by the occupied force, there is the right to provide humanitarian aid, even if it is under certain circumstances,” Shatz said. Israel, for example, will have the right to ascend to ascend and search for vascular assistance to verify their charge, similar to what it does with aid trucks crossing in Gaza by land.
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