Dozens of boats carrying activists and humanitarian aid for Palestinians departed from Turkey's Mediterranean coast on Thursday, marking the latest effort to breach Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. This comes just weeks after Israeli forces intercepted a previous flotilla and detained two activists.
Flotilla Details
More than 50 vessels were scheduled to leave the port of Marmaris in what organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla described as the final leg of their journey to Gaza's shores. Nearly 500 activists from 45 countries are participating in the convoy, which aims to draw renewed attention to the dire conditions in the Gaza Strip.
Previous Interception
On April 30, Israeli forces intercepted over 20 boats from a flotilla near the southern Greek island of Crete, initially holding about 175 activists. The incident sparked protests and condemnation from several countries, raising legal questions about enforcing a blockade in international waters. Israeli officials stated they acted early due to the high number of boats involved.
Israel took two activists—Saif Abukeshek, a Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin, and Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian citizen—back to Israel for interrogation and detention. The activists accused Israel of torture, and both Brazil and Spain condemned Israel for “kidnapping” their citizens. The two were deported from Israel on Sunday.
Gaza's Conditions
The flotilla aims to highlight the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, which was devastated by the Israel-Hamas war. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 72,744 Palestinians have been killed since the war began with the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records deemed generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts, though it does not distinguish between civilians and militants.
A fragile six-month ceasefire has halted the most intense fighting, but around 2 million Gaza residents still live in ruins with shortages of food and medicine. Only limited aid enters through a single Israeli-controlled border post.
Blockade History
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel defends the blockade as necessary to prevent arms imports, while critics call it collective punishment of Gaza's population.
Last year, Israeli authorities blocked a similar attempt involving about 50 vessels and some 500 activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela, and several European lawmakers. Participants were arrested, detained, and later deported, alleging abuse by Israeli authorities, which denied the accusations.
Previous efforts have also failed. In 2010, Israeli commandos raided the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara during an aid flotilla, killing nine Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American. The last successful activist boat to reach Gaza was in 2008.
