IDF takes over pro-Palestinian activist boat making an attempt to interrupt Gaza blockade

[ad_1] Israeli forces took over a ship that was making an attempt to interrupt Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip on Saturday evening, and towed it towards the Ashdod Port.

The boat, Handala , had been carrying pro-Palestinian activists and small quantities of humanitarian support provides. It set sail from Sicily earlier this month, weeks after Israel intercepted a distinct vessel that made a high-profile try to interrupt the blockade.

Handala is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which additionally dispatched the earlier boat, the Madleen, on a mission to problem Israel’s blockade on the Strip. In accordance with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s web site, the Handala was carrying 19 activists in addition to two Al Jazeera journalists. The group didn't disclose the contents or amount of the humanitarian support aboard the ship.

The activists’ personal reside broadcast from the vessel confirmed them sitting on deck, holding their fingers up and whistling the Italian anti-fascist music “Bella Ciao,” as Israeli Navy troopers took management of the boat.

Three video reside feeds of the scene, which had been broadcast on-line, have been minimize minutes later.

Get The Occasions of Israel's Every day Version by e-mail and by no means miss our prime tales

By signing up, you comply with the terms An internet monitoring device set as much as plot the Handala’s course confirmed the boat’s place as roughly 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Egyptian coast and 100 kilometers west of Gaza when intercepted.

התיעוד המלא והדרמטי: השתלטות שייטת 13 על הספינה חנד'לה שניסתה לפרוץ את המצור על עזה. מעליית הלוחמים על הספינה ממספר כלי שייט ועד ניתוק מצלמות האבטחה. בזמן הזה הפעילים יושבים בכיסאות עם אפודי הצלה ושרים pic.twitter.com/onKZibxxpa

— איתי בלומנטל ???????? Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) July 26, 2025

The boat was towed towards Ashdod Port by the Navy, and the activists have been then set to be deported from the nation.

Whereas the IDF didn't situation an official touch upon the incident, the International Ministry confirmed the takeover, stressing that everybody on board was secure.

In a press release, utilizing the unique identify of the vessel, the ministry stated the forces “stopped the vessel Navarn from illegally getting into the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza.”

“The vessel is safely making its strategy to the shores of Israel. All passengers are secure,” it added. “Unauthorized makes an attempt to breach the blockade are harmful, illegal, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts.”

Screenshots taken from reside footage of the Handala activist boat attempting to interrupt the naval blockade on Gaza as it's boarded by Israeli Navy forces, on July 26, 2025. (Screenshot: Salaamedia on Youtube)

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition earlier stated it was altering course, heading south towards Egypt, because of the Israeli Navy vessels and a drone approaching the boat at sea.

“Right now, the Handala doesn't intend to enter Egyptian waters however plans to sail parallel to the shoreline. Ought to the menace from Israeli authorities escalate, the crew will try to contact the Egyptian Coast Guard to request emergency entry based mostly on the menace to their lives,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition stated.

After the interception, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition declared in a message on social media: “‘Handala’ has been intercepted and boarded illegally by Israeli forces while in worldwide waters.”

Two far-left French lawmakers, Emma Fourreau and Gabrielle Cathala, have been amongst these detained. Their celebration chief, Jean-Luc Melenchon of France Unbowed (LFI), condemned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Netanyahu’s thugs boarded Handala. They assault 21 unarmed individuals in territorial waters the place they haven't any proper. A kidnapping wherein two French parliamentarians are victims,” he posted on X, demanding the French authorities take motion.

In accordance with a number of activists aboard the Handala, the group had determined that it could start a starvation strike instantly upon interception by the IDF.

“If the Israeli army assaults our vessel and prevents us from attending to Gaza, we are going to go on starvation strike instantly,” Huwaida Arraf stated in a social media submit on Friday.

“ We aren't taken with receiving any meals or water [from Israel…] and definitely not within the ways in which they use it for propaganda, whereas on the similar time they're ravenous to loss of life Palestinian kids,” she added.

Each member aboard the Handala Freedom Flotilla has pledged to go on starvation strike if Israel intercepts the ship. pic.twitter.com/gLutOKd06E

— Handala (@handala0) July 26, 2025

The IDF, in response to an earlier question in regards to the ship, stated it was “imposing the maritime safety blockade on the Gaza Strip and is ready for a variety of eventualities, which it's going to implement in accordance with the directives of the political echelon.”

The earlier ship launched by the Flotilla group, the Madleen, was intercepted by Israeli authorities on June 9, about 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) west of Gaza’s coast, after it defied repeated warnings by Israel to show round.

Israel towed the boat to Ashdod Port and detained the 12 activists on board — together with local weather activist Greta Thunberg — earlier than deporting them over the next days. Jerusalem, which described the enterprise as a publicity stunt, stated the small quantity of support on that boat was then transferred to Gaza utilizing accredited overland channels.

Activists on the Madleen Gaza-bound support boat are being given sandwiches after the vessel was intercepted by Israeli forces in worldwide waters. (Screenshot/Israeli International Ministry through AFP)

A number of different makes an attempt have been made through the years to method Gaza by sea, not all of which fared in addition to the Madleen.

In Might, a vessel dispatched by the Freedom Flotilla was attacked by two drones whereas crusing in worldwide waters off Malta. The group blamed Israel for the assault, which broken the entrance part of the ship. Israel didn't touch upon the incident.

Previous makes an attempt to interrupt the blockade have additionally failed, most notably the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010, which noticed Israeli commandos board a Turkish-led flotilla sure for Gaza. The violence that ensued when these aboard the ship attacked the troopers resulted within the deaths of 10 activists and left a soldier badly wounded, sparking worldwide condemnation and a extreme diplomatic rift between Israel and Turkey.

Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized energy from rival Palestinian forces in 2007 in a violent coup. Israel says it's essential to restrict Hamas’s potential to smuggle in arms with which to assault the Jewish state. Critics of the blockade say it quantities to collective punishment of Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Piles of humanitarian support packages wait to be picked up on the Palestinian facet of the Kerem Shalom crossing within the Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 24, 2025, throughout a media tour organized by the Israeli military. (AP Picture/Ohad Zwigenberg, file)

Practically 60,000 Palestinians have been killed for the reason that begin of the warfare, in keeping with the Hamas-run Gaza well being ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.

In current weeks, because the humanitarian state of affairs has deteriorated severely, the ministry says no less than 56 individuals have died of causes associated to malnutrition in Gaza, together with 35 adults and 22 kids. That’s up from 10 kids who died from such causes throughout all 5 earlier months of 2025, in keeping with the ministry.

Israeli authorities have maintained that whereas the humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza is troublesome, there isn't any widespread famine. On Saturday, they introduced new airdrops of support and “humanitarian pauses” beginning Sunday, aimed toward facilitating the secure supply of products by the United Nations.

Businesses contributed to this report.

!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s) {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod? n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)}; if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0'; n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0; t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script', 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js'); fbq('init', '272776440645465'); fbq('track', 'PageView'); [ad_2] Source link