The 430 members of the Global Sumud Flotilla intercepted on Monday off the coast of Cyprus by the Israeli navy have been transferred to Israel, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Tuesday night into Wednesday. “The 430 activists have been transferred aboard Israeli ships and are heading to Israel, where they will be able to meet with their consular representatives,” said a ministry spokesperson.
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As in previous detentions of activists attempting to reach the Gaza coast by sea, the crew were transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod. In several videos, supposedly inside the port complex and shared via X by the Israeli National Security Minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, prison officers and Israeli soldiers are seen beating and humiliating the activists.
Earlier, the Transport Minister, Miri Regev, posted another video in which she repeatedly calls the activists “terrorism sympathizers” and claims they were “drunk or drugged.” In a third recording attributed to reporter Moti Kastel of Channel 14, the activists appear kneeling, with their hands handcuffed behind their backs and their faces against the ground while the Israeli national anthem plays in the background.
This past Monday, the flotilla composed of about fifty boats had announced that Israeli forces were boarding the vessels. “The Israeli occupation has once again illegally and violently intercepted our international flotilla of humanitarian boats and has detained our volunteers,” it later denounced on X, demanding “the immediate release of the activists and an end to the Gaza blockade.”
The activists will meet with their consular representatives in Israel, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs
This is the third attempt in a year to break the Israeli blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, devastated by war and affected by severe shortages since the start of the conflict, triggered in October 2023 by an unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas against Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the interception of the ships and denounced a “malicious” plan.
The images of the abuses carried out by Ben Gvir have provoked condemnation from various organizations linked to the Flotilla, but also from Netanyahu himself. In a message posted on social media, the Israeli leader stated that his country “has every right” to prevent the entry into its territorial waters of “provocative” flotillas which, he said, were linked to “terrorist supporters of Hamas” and were heading to Gaza.
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However, he qualified that the treatment by his National Security Minister “does not conform to the values and norms of Israel.” Netanyahu also said he had ordered the competent authorities to deport the participants in the initiative “as soon as possible.”
Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares denounced “the monstrous, unworthy, and humiliating treatment by an Israeli minister of the Spaniards and other members of the flotilla,” confirming that 44 Spanish citizens were traveling. In reaction to the video, the Spanish diplomatic representative urgently summoned “the Israeli chargé d’affaires.” “I demand their immediate release and an apology from the Israeli government,” he added.
“They are carrying out this operation with remarkable success (…) continue until the end,” the leader told the Israeli navy commander leading the operation, according to a statement from his office that released an excerpt of the conversation. Earlier on Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had warned that it “would not allow any violation of the legal naval blockade imposed on Gaza.”
Meanwhile, the flotilla organizers reported that the Israeli Armed Forces opened fire on two boats. The moment was recorded in a live broadcast by Turkish activist Ömer Aslan, which was later shared through the Global Sumud Flotilla’s social media. The statement itself indicates that no one was injured in the operation.
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