ISTANBUL

Organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla on Friday denounced Israeli claims that its aid mission to Gaza carried little or no humanitarian supplies, calling the allegations “verifiably false.”

In a statement, the flotilla said its vessels were “meticulously documented, loaded with medical supplies, food, and other life-saving goods for people in Gaza being systematically starved by Israel.”

It added that journalists, human rights monitors, parliamentarians, and aid groups had already confirmed the presence of aid on board.

“Israel’s denial is nothing more than another entry in a long record of lies,” the statement said, urging international media to stop amplifying official Israeli claims.

The flotilla stressed that its mission has always been clear: to break the blockade on Gaza and establish a humanitarian corridor for sustained aid deliveries.

It acknowledged that while the supplies on board were limited, they were both “real because they were urgently needed, and representative because civilian ships cannot carry the full scale of aid Gaza requires, which only becomes possible once the blockade is lifted.”

The flotilla accused Israel of conducting a “systematic smear campaign” to delegitimize efforts aimed at upholding international law, while trying to obscure evidence of its own violations.

The statement cited a pattern of disinformation, noting Israeli denials of bombing hospitals, starving civilians, obstructing convoys, and executing aid workers — all of which have since been documented by UN agencies, human rights organizations, and journalists.

“To repeat Israel’s falsehoods today is to be complicit in covering up genocide,” the flotilla said, warning that media outlets have no obligation to amplify propaganda that has already been disproven “at the cost of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian lives.”

The statement concluded: “The facts are clear: the flotilla carried humanitarian aid, Gaza is being deliberately starved, and Israel is perpetrating a genocide. It is the duty of the international community to stop perpetuating Israel’s lies and start acting to end its blockade, its famine, and its genocide.”

Earlier, Israel’s Foreign Ministry claimed in a post on the US-based social media company X that there was no aid on the flotilla’s boats.

The Israeli naval forces attacked and seized vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla on Thursday and detained more than 470 activists from over 50 countries. The flotilla had been attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza and challenge Israel’s blockade of the enclave.

Israel has maintained the blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for almost 18 years.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed nearly 66,300 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it all but uninhabitable, with the blockade also pushing Gaza to a state of famine, with medicine and medical supplies in short supply.