The Israeli navy boards the Gaza flotilla in international waters near Cyprus

BarcelonaThe Israeli army has intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla for the second time, the international civilian initiative that denounces the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Shortly after ten in the morning this Monday, soldiers on board speedboats stormed the humanitarian ships when they were about 250 miles off the coast of Gaza, in international waters. This is an area within the zone where Cyprus is responsible for rescuing any vessel in distress and Israel has no jurisdiction there. The solidarity initiative involves 54 boats with 460 activists from 44 different nationalities, including about twenty Catalans, and specialized teams in medicine and reconstruction.

The organization has recalled that this is a non-violent humanitarian mission, and has called on governments to stop "these illegal acts of piracy that aim to maintain Israel's genocidal siege of Gaza." The participants, despite the interference of communication and radio systems, had time to show some images of the Israeli soldiers approaching them at high speed before being intercepted and boarded.

The group had sailed again from Turkey after of having suffered another attack on April 29The first assault

The group had set sail again from Turkey after suffering another attack on April 29, near the coast of the Greek island of Crete, when the Israeli navy boarded them at sea, and 180 crew members were detained and transferred to a prison ship for 40 hours. The operation of the assault was the same. Afterwards, they were handed over to the Greek authorities, all except the visible faces of the movement, the Catalan-Palestinian, Saif Abukeshek and the Brazilian Thiago Avila, who were transferred to Israel and detained in a prison for ten days until they were released, even though the Israeli government had accused them of terrorism.

The legal teams of the flotilla then filed several complaints in European and international courts for violation of international law. The participants reported mistreatment and torture while in Israeli custody.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who this Monday once again secured a suspension of the hearing in the trial in which he is accused of corruption – personally traveled to the naval command in the town of Kirya, accompanied by Defense Minister Israel Katz, to congratulate those responsible for the operation: "You are doing a great job and neutralizing a malicious plan designed to break the isolation we are imposing on Hamas terrorists in Gaza," he said in a statement. And he added: "The water looks beautiful, I would love to be there."

According to the Israeli press, the soldiers forced the activists to board a prison ship, as happened in the interception in April. Some media outlets assure that the Israeli government has not yet decided to which country the detainees will be deported, while others say they will be taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod to be tried. In the April assault, they were handed over to the authorities of Greece. In this case, Cyprus is the closest to the point of interception. Both Greece and Cyprus signed a military cooperation agreement with Israel in December 2025.

Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the intervention, just as the executives of Spain and Brazil did last time. The Israeli government had ordered the vessels to turn back an hour before the assault.

In parallel, the Global Sumud Flotilla had organized a land convoy from Mauritania to the Rafah crossing, which connects Gaza with Egypt, but it has been detained in Libya. It warns that "the consecutive attack on both the maritime and land components of the mission makes it clear that the illegal siege on Gaza has expanded to become a global architecture of violence, occupation, and growing impunity".