“Attacked and intercepted”
Israel’s navy stops further Gaza aid fleet
October 8, 2025 – 8:12 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
After the “Global Sumud Flotilla”, activists are again trying to bring aid supplies to Gaza by ship. Now the Israeli navy intervenes.
Pro-Palestinian activists from another fleet of ships carrying aid supplies say they were stopped by the Israeli military off the coast of the Gaza Strip. The group of nine ships sent across the Mediterranean by the organizations Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Thousand Madleens to Gaza had almost 150 helpers from around 30 countries on board, the activists said on Instagram.
The boats were “attacked and intercepted” by Israeli naval units early in the morning about 220 kilometers off the coast of the Gaza Strip, according to a post on Platform X.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement shortly afterward saying there was “another fruitless attempt to break the naval blockade and enter the war zone.” The ships would now be brought to an Israeli port. All crew members are “safe and in good health” and will most likely be deported immediately.
Last week, Israel’s navy intercepted more than 40 boats carrying aid supplies to the Gaza Strip. A good 400 crew members from dozens of countries – including the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg – were taken into custody, many of them have since been released and deported.
Critics accuse the activists that the amount of aid they transport is too small to really help the suffering population. The activists also want to show solidarity with the Palestinians and draw attention to their situation and the closure of the Gaza Strip. In Italy, the interception of the “Global Sumud Flotilla” mobilized many people to demonstrate.
