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.
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“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.
“Communication with 11 vessels have been lost and Israeli media claims that 7 boats have been intercepted. 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, and that seven of the flotilla’s 58 vessels had been captured near the Greek island of Crete.
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”.
“This is illegal under international law. Israel has no jurisdiction in these waters. Boarding these boats amounts to illegal detention – potentially kidnapping on the high seas,” said Tsabar.
“It’s critical that all governments act now. Every government has an obligation to protect the over 400 civilians on board and to uphold international law. Silence in this moment is absolute complicity.”
‘We’ve lost communication with many of our boats’
Tariq Ra’ouf, a writer and activist who is on board one of the flotilla’s vessels, told Al Jazeera how the fleet was surrounded by large Israeli military ships from which rigid inflatable boats (RIBs) were then deployed.
“From those military ships, a bunch of smaller military RIBs began surrounding many of our vessels. Drones have been surrounding us and flashing us with lights. And we’ve been getting messages from the Israeli military through our radio, saying that we are breaking international law and that we need to stop,” Ra’ouf said.
The Israeli operation unfolded over several hours, Ra’ouf said, adding that the flotilla was travelling to Crete in international waters when Israel’s naval raid began.
“We’ve lost communication with many of our boats,” Ra’ouf said.
He told Al Jazeera that the flotilla’s communications were jammed by the Israeli military playing music over radio channels as “some sort of psychological warfare tactic”.
“We are in international waters, and so this is a really, truly, unprecedented move from Israel, because we are nowhere near Gaza,” Ra’ouf added.
Al Jazeera’s Jack Barton, reporting from Amman, Jordan, said anonymous Israeli military sources have been sharing details of the naval raid with Israel’s media.
“One source within the military [is] saying the aim was to surprise the flotilla by striking so far from Gaza,” Barton said.
The flotilla is estimated to be some 600 nautical miles from Gaza (1,111 km), while Barton said the previous furthest intercept by Israel of an aid flotilla was 72 nautical miles (133km) from the Palestinian territory.
“So this is much, much further than any sort of raid that Israel has carried out on the flotilla in the past,” Barton added.
More than 50 vessels carrying activists from multiple countries set sail from Italy on Sunday towards the Gaza Strip in what organisers said was the largest humanitarian aid flotilla attempting to reach the war-torn Palestinian territory, where Israel’s genocidal war has killed 72,599 people and injured 172,411.
Last October, Israel’s military intercepted some 40 boats from the Global Sumud Flotilla as they carried aid to besieged Gaza, arresting more than 450 participants, including the grandson of South African leader Nelson Mandela, Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg and European Parliament Member Rima Hassan.
Detained and taken to Israel, several of the flotilla activists alleged physical and psychological abuse while in Israeli custody.
Israel later expelled the arrested crew members and activists.