ISTANBUL
The Israeli Navy attacked ships of the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) in international waters early Wednesday, as the convoy was roughly 120 nautical miles from the besieged enclave.
🚨 Israeli Navy launches another attack on humanitarian aid vessels in international waters
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) October 8, 2025
🚢 Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla Coalition boats have been illegally raided by Israeli forces
👥 About 100 activists on the nine-boat flotilla, are carrying vital aid worth over $110,000… pic.twitter.com/xUfIxf42Cy
According to the coalition’s tracker and Israeli legal center Adalah, Israeli naval forces attacked all nine ships of the mission, including the flagship vessel, Conscience, and detained all 145 activists on board.
"The Israeli occupation commits a war crime again in international waters. We will not stop ... The genocide must be stopped and the siege broken," the International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza said through the US social media company X.
A press release by the aid flotilla Thousand Madleens said that within one hour, all nine boats were attacked by Israeli naval forces in international waters.
“Israel chose to illegally intercept, attack, and abduct a flotilla once again. Its abduction of 145 people from 30 countries further exposes our governments’ enabling of Israel’s escalating human rights abuses in Gaza, Palestine, and across the seas,” the FFC said on social media platform Instagram.
“In any other context, this would be deemed human trafficking and terrorism,” it added.
🚨 Another wave of attacks on humanitarian aid ships
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) October 8, 2025
🚢 The Israeli Navy has attacked vessels of the Gaza-bound Freedom Flotilla Coalition in international waters
⚠️ Three coalition ships have been illegally seized and raided by Israeli soldiers https://t.co/gv27BeUS9p pic.twitter.com/ldfirLAEBo
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on X that the seized ships and detained activists had been transferred to a port in Israel. It added that all activists were safe and in good health and were expected to be deported as soon as possible.
"We confirm that three vessels — Gaza Sunbird, Alaa Al-Najjar, and Anas Al Sharif — have been attacked and illegally intercepted by the Israeli military at 04:34 a.m. (0134GMT), 220 km (around 120 nautical miles) off the coast of Gaza," the coalition said earlier.
A livestream on the coalition’s YouTube channel showed several Israeli soldiers raiding the Gaza Sunbird, one of the flotilla’s ships.
"The Israeli military has no legal jurisdiction over international waters. Our flotilla poses no harm," the coalition said.
'Never forget us'
Live broadcasts from the flotilla captured warnings by the Israeli military that the ships would be “intervened against” if they did not stop. Following the warnings, participants aboard the vessels were seen wearing life jackets and sitting calmly in accordance with prearranged emergency protocols.
Footage showed Israeli navy patrol boats surrounding the ships, while participants were seen throwing their phones into the sea. During a live broadcast from the vessel Conscience, spokesperson Kasim Aktag said: “The ships have surrounded us. Soldiers are approaching to board the ship. Never forget us — keep us on the agenda and protect our unity and solidarity.”
The broadcast was then cut off as Israeli soldiers began boarding the ships, and communication with many vessels was lost.
The flotilla’s website, which had been tracking the vessels’ real-time speed and coordinates, also went offline.
$110,000 worth of medical supplies
Footage from the live stream also showed an Israeli military helicopter flying over Conscience.
“The Conscience ship is currently under attack by an Israeli military helicopter. The vessel is carrying 93 journalists, doctors, and activists,” the flotilla said in a statement.
The statement added that the ships were unlawfully stopped and were carrying $110,000 worth of medicines, respiratory equipment, ventilators, and nutritional supplies intended for critically needed hospitals in Gaza.
The FFC, established in 2010, has launched dozens of missions aimed at delivering aid and drawing global attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Israel-besieged Gaza Strip.
Behesti Ismail Songur, the head of the Mavi Marmara Freedom and Solidarity Association and Turkish representative of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition, told Anadolu that Conscience carried enough doctors and medical supplies to operate at least three hospitals in the Gaza Strip.
“These include cardiologists, general surgeons, and obstetricians, and Israel has now prevented these doctors from entering Gaza,” Songur said.
Israel’s Channel 12 also reported that about 150 people were detained aboard the ships, and the vessels were towed toward Ashdod Port.
Famine in Gaza
The latest convoy set sail after Israeli naval forces attacked and seized more than 40 boats last week, part of the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla, and detained more than 450 activists on board. Most of them have been deported.
Israel, as the occupying power, has also previously attacked Gaza-bound ships, seized their cargo, and deported the activists on board.
It has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for nearly 18 years and further tightened the siege in March when it closed border crossings and blocked food and medicine deliveries, pushing the enclave into famine.
Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed nearly 67,200 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable. Negotiations to end the war, according to a 20-point plan unveiled by US President Donald Trump, are underway in Egypt.
