Gaza aid flotilla says Israeli forces intercepted 10 boats, contact lost with 23 vessels
By Ali Küçükgöçmen
ISTANBUL, May 18 (Reuters) – Organizers of the flotilla of aid ships heading to Gaza said on Monday that Israeli forces seized 10 boats and lost contact with a total of 23 ships in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Israel’s foreign ministry had said on channel X earlier Monday that it “will not allow any violation of the legal naval blockade of Gaza.”
Ships belonging to the Global Sumud Fleet set out from southern Türkiye for the third time on Thursday, after previous Israeli attempts to deliver aid to Gaza were stopped in international waters.
Live video showed military vessels approaching the ships on Monday.
The Global Sumud Fleet first said on
“We demand safe passage for our legal, non-violent humanitarian mission.”
The group said 10 boats were seized and contact was lost with 23 of the 54 ships in the flotilla, about two dozen Turks were on board the captured ships, about 250 nautical miles (463 km) from Gaza. It was stated that 426 people from 39 countries participated in the fleet.
The Israeli foreign ministry also called on “all participants in this provocation to change course and return immediately.”
The previous fleet set out from Spain on 12 April. However, Israeli forces intercepted the ships in this group, taking more than 100 pro-Palestinian activists to Crete and detaining two others in Israel.
Last October, the Israeli army stopped another flotilla created by the same organization, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 participants.
Palestinians and international aid organizations, Türkiye and some other countries say that despite the ceasefire reached in October, which included a guarantee to increase aid, the supplies reaching Gaza are still insufficient.
Most of Gaza’s more than 2 million people have been displaced; Many now live in bombed-out houses and makeshift tents set up in open fields, on roadsides or on the rubble of collapsed buildings.
Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies stopping supplies to its residents. More than 1.58 million tons of humanitarian aid and thousands of tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza since October 2025, the foreign ministry said.
(Reporting by Ali Küçükgöçmen; Additional reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer, Ed Davies and Sharon Singleton)
