Sixth assault in international waters by the Israeli army on a humanitarian fleet bound for Gaza. This Monday, several ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla and of the Freedom Flotilla have been intercepted by Israeli troops about 80 nautical miles west of the island of Cyprus.
“According to the information I have been collecting, the flotilla is made up of 54 boats with about 500 activists of 35 nationalities. I do not have the exact number of Spaniards, but it would be around a 45. A dozen activists are held by the Israeli Armed Forceswho have begun the interception in international waters where they have no jurisdiction,” said the Foreign Minister, Jose Manuel Albaresat a press conference. “It is a new violation of international law just 15 days after the previous interception. I condemn this action, outside its jurisdiction: no Israeli agent has jurisdiction some in those waters”
The minister has announced that has summoned the chargé d’affaires of the Israeli embassy in MadridDana Erlich, to convey the “condemnation” for what happened and demand the release of the detainees who, the head of Spanish diplomacy highlights, are a humanitarian fleet that seeks to break the blockade because “aid to Gaza is clearly insufficient.”
Boats attacked off Cyprus
At 9:30 Spanish peninsular time, at least four boats “were attacked and illegally intercepted 250 nautical miles from Gaza,” according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Andrea López-Tomás reports.
“Several large Israeli warships unloaded a large number of zodiac boats full of Israeli offensive forces equipped for combat,” explains the humanitarian coalition in a press release. Next, and according to military authorities, the participants of the flotilla will be transferred to a large cargo ship that the coalition calls “prison ship” and will be taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.
Aboard the boat Adalah, which means justice in Arabic, they travel four people with Spanish passports: the economist Santiago González Vallejo, the ship’s captain Tomás Morate Serna, and the activists Neus Bella Ferre and Óscar Gallego Cubillana.
European flags
These vessels sail under European flags, from countries such as France, Italy, Greece, Portugal or Spain. “Governments and the European Commission have been previously informed of this and protection has been requested in a Mediterranean plagued by NATO ships that should defend the citizens and ships of the countries they belong to from pirate attacks and kidnappings and contrary to international legality on the part of Israel,” the coalition stated in the press release. This morning the Israeli authorities described the humanitarian mission as “a provocation for provocation’s sake: another so-called “humanitarian aid flotilla” without humanitarian aid.
According to Tel Aviv, “on this occasion, two Turkish violent groups—Mavi Marmara and IHH, the latter designated as a terrorist organization—are involved in the provocation.” “The purpose of this provocation is favor Hamasdivert attention from their refusal to disarm and hinder the peace plan progress of the president [estadounidense, Donald] Trump,” he added, claiming that “the Gaza Strip is flooded with aid,” because “since October 2025 alone, more than 1.58 million tons of humanitarian aid and thousands of tons of medical supplies.” At the end of April, the Israeli Army intercepted dozens of boats, detaining 175 activists and transferring two of them to an Israeli prison where they were held without formal charges for a week.
Complaints from the sea
Ariadne Masmitjàembarked on one of the flotilla’s ships, takes advantage of the last minutes of freedom to attend to the press. “We experience the interception of our companions with indignation“, he tells EL PERIÓDICO through voice notes. “We know that it is a warning that In a while we will also be intercepted“, he states, and they recognize themselves as “ready and prepared to register any violation of rights carried out by the Zionist and genocidal State of Israel with its occupation forces.” Masmitjà, known as Masmi and member of the Intersindical Alternativa de Catalunya, defends that they are not doing “anything illegal” and that these actions “should be done our own governments“that allow Israel’s impunity to exercise violence against activists, but above all against the Palestinian people.
“To fight against this happening and to show that we are against it, the only way we have is put our bodiessince our governments are being complicit or are silent in the face of what is happening,” adds Masmitjà. “Who is committing an illegality is the genocidal State of Israel that is intercepting a humanitarian mission in international waters“, denounces the spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla in Catalonia, before rejecting Tel Aviv’s accusations that its actions help Hamas. “We are not considering stopping the tripOn the contrary, we are trying to continue as long as we can,” he concludes with the penetrating sound of an engine running in the background.
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