Israeli forces intercept the remaining activist flotilla vessels headed for Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces on Tuesday intercepted all remaining vessels from an activist flotilla attempting to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, the latest effort to highlight the grim conditions for nearly 2 million Palestinians with severe shortages of housing, food and medicine.

A live feed on the Global Sumud Flotilla website showed armed Israeli soldiers boarding the vessels as activists in life vests put their hands up. Soldiers then destroyed cameras mounted on the vessels.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani called for an urgent review of Israel’s use of force after Italian activists said soldiers fired rubber bullets at vessels. Flotilla organizers claimed Israeli soldiers fired on five boats during the interdictions, with some damage.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said that no live ammunition was fired. In a statement late Tuesday, it added that “non-lethal means” were aimed toward the vessels as a warning, but without targeting or injuring protesters.

Israeli forces had begun stopping the flotilla around 167 miles (268 kilometers) from the Gaza coastline, according to the flotilla’s website. The vessels departed last week from Turkey.

Israel has called the flotilla “a provocation for the sake of provocation” with no real intent to deliver aid to Gaza. The boats carry a symbolic amount of aid.

Detained activists being ‘forcibly transported,’ group says

On Monday, the Israeli navy stopped some 41 boats from the flotilla in international waters off Cyprus and detained those on board.

The flotilla said late Tuesday that 428 detained activists from over 40 nations remain “unaccounted for” as they have had neither contact with lawyers nor access to consular help and their families haven’t been informed of their whereabouts.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry Office said Tuesday night that “all 430 activists” had been transferred to Israeli vessels. The post on X, which called the flotilla “a PR stunt at the service of Hamas,” added that they were “making their way to Israel, where they will be able to meet with their consular representatives.”

More than a dozen Irish nationals were aboard the flotilla, including the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin has called Israel’s interception of the boats in international waters “absolutely unacceptable.”

The flotilla urged governments and world leaders to demand the activists “immediate and unconditional release” and to ensure they get legal and consular help without delay.

Earlier Tuesday, the activist group said that the detainees were “being forcibly transported” by an Israeli ship to an unnamed port. It also warned of “grave and immediate concerns” about the activists’ physical safety after others detained during an April 30 interdiction detailed “patterns of torture, severe physical abuse and invasive sexual violence” by Israeli forces. Israel denies the allegations.

Turkey and the Palestinian militant group Hamas have called the interdictions an act of “piracy.” Italy, Spain and Indonesia called on Israel to release activists and ensure their safety.

The U.S. Treasury, however, imposed sanctions against European activists Saif Abu Keshek, Jaldia Abubakra Aueda, Hisham Abdallah Sulayman Abu Mahfuz and Mohammed Khatib, who were aboard the flotilla, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called “pro-terror.”

The Israeli defense body overseeing humanitarian aid to Gaza claims that sufficient aid is entering the territory, with around 600 trucks delivering assistance daily, similar to prewar levels.

But according a U.N. World Food Program report, the number of humanitarian and commercial trucks entering Gaza declined sharply in March compared with previous months following the start of the Iran war. A daily average of 112 trucks entered in March.

Activist says they are determined to carry on

Italian activist Daniele Gallina was with six others aboard a sailboat that diverted to a harbor in Cyprus because of technical issues. He said he and his fellow activists saw their mission as an attempt to open Gaza to the world.

“What matters is not only the aid itself, important as it is, but the structural change it represents. It is also about challenging the collaboration of our own governments with these policies,” Gallina told The Associated Press.

Even though the Flotilla’s mission was “entirely pacifist,” Gallina said, the Israeli military’s actions demonstrated how international law is now “openly disregarded,” notably against “peaceful civilian missions carrying no weapons.”

He said he and fellow activists remained determined to continue their protests “until Gaza is reached.”

Israel has blockaded Gaza’s coast for nearly two decades

Israel has maintained a sea blockade of Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007. Israeli authorities intensified it after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks on Israel that killed around 1,200 people and saw more than 250 taken hostage.

Critics say the blockade amounts to collective punishment. Israel has said the blockade is meant to prevent Hamas from arming. Egypt, which has the only border crossing with Gaza not controlled by Israel, has also greatly restricted movement in and out.

Gaza’s Health Ministry says Israel’s retaliatory offensive following the Oct. 7 attack has killed more than 72,700 people. The ministry, part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, does not give a breakdown between civilians and militants. It is staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

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Hadjicostis reported from Nicosia, Cyprus. Associated Press writers Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey, Derek Gatopoulos in Athens, Greece, Giada Zampano in Rome and Fatima Hussein in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Julia Frankel And Menelaos Hadjicostis, The Associated Press