Abdulsalam Fayez
19 May 2026•Update: 19 May 2026
The Israeli army seized more than 40 of the 54 vessels participating in the Gaza-bound Global Sumud flotilla on Tuesday, according to Israeli media.
The army also detained around 300 activists, Israeli news website Walla reported, citing an unnamed security source.
Walla added that the Israeli navy had not yet intercepted all the flotilla vessels and that several boats remained in the open sea.
The Israeli army launched the attack on the flotilla carrying humanitarian aid in international waters on Monday, prompting widespread international condemnation.
With the participation of 54 boats, the flotilla sailed on Thursday from the Turkish district of Marmaris in a new attempt to break the illegal Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007.
This is not the first such incident involving the flotilla.
In late April, the Israeli army attacked flotilla boats in international waters off the Greek island of Crete. The convoy at the time included 345 participants from 39 countries, among them Turkish citizens.
Israeli forces then seized 21 boats carrying around 175 activists, while the remaining vessels continued toward Greek territorial waters.
Israeli forces later released the activists in international waters except for two — a Spanish and a Brazilian activist — who were taken to detention centers inside Israel before later being deported.
Around 2.4 million Palestinians, including approximately 1.5 million displaced people, are living under catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Gaza, worsened by a two-year Israeli genocide that has killed more than 72,700 people and wounded over 172,700, most of them women and children, in addition to triggering severe famine conditions.
Despite a ceasefire announced in October 2025, Israel has continued restricting humanitarian aid access and carrying out daily strikes, resulting in the deaths of 877 Palestinians and injuries to 2,602 others, according to local authorities.
*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul
