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Solitary vessel, Marinette, was stopped 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza, in a move that organisers, state leaders, and rights groups have called ‘illegal’
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Greta Thunberg is to be deported after her aid vessel was intercepted by the Israeli military as it neared the besieged Gaza Strip, Israeli officials have said.
The final sailing flotilla vessel, Marinette, has been captured 42 nautical miles from Gaza, organisers said on Friday.
The move to stop the Global Sumud Flotilla has sparked backlash from the international community including leaders in Colombia, Malaysia, Brazil and Italy. Turkey’s foreign ministry called Israel’s interception “an act of terror”.
Protests have erupted across major cities including Paris, Milan and London. Amnesty International has called Israel’s stopping of the aid ships “an attack on international law and basic humanity”. Demonstrations also took place in Mexico, Brazil and the US.
Another boat docked in Cyprus on Friday, officials did not confirm whether it was part of the fleet stopped by the Israeli military.
Nearly 500 activists, including Thunberg, were sailing on around 44 boats carrying aid through the Mediterranean Sea for more than a month, looking to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza as the enclave remained in the grip of widespread hunger.
British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has criticised supporters of the Palestine aid flotilla.
“I was very disappointed to see those protests go ahead last night,” Ms Mahmood told Sky News, suggesting that the demonstration was untimely in light of the Manchester synagogue attacks.
“I think that behaviour is fundamentally unBritish … I think it’s dishonourable.”
Palestinians have shared videos of themselves fishing in the Mediterranean Sea as the Israeli navy has found itself preoccupied with flotilla interceptions.
The UN has previously criticised the “systematic attacks on fishing in Gaza”, which has seen hundreds of people die from starvation and malnutrition as Israel restricts aid into the Strip.
“Marinette, the last remaining boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was intercepted at 10:29am local time, approximately 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza,” it wrote in a post on its Telegram channel.
“Over 38 hours, Israeli occupation naval forces illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels—each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza.
“Marinette sailed forward with the spirit of sumud—steadfastness—even after seeing the fate of 41 boats before her.
“But this is not the end of our mission. Our determination to confront Israel’s atrocities and stand with the Palestinian people remains unshaken.
“As people rise up in cities worldwide to demand an end to these horrors and to take a stand for humanity, we rise together with one voice: We will not stop until the genocide ends. We will not stop until Palestine is free.”
A two-year UN investigation conclude that Israel is committing a genocide, however the state denies the claims and says they are “false” and “distorted”.
Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Milan, London, Athens and other major European cities saw the outbreak of protests this week after over 400 volunteers were captured by the Israeli military after trying to take aid to Gaza.
Over 47 nationalities are said to have been represented on the humanitarian mission.
Over 66,000 people have been killed and nearly 170,000 wounded as experts have urged urgent intervention for the humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
“A protest organised by the ‘Global Movement for Gaza UK’ took place in Whitehall this evening,” the Met Police wrote on X/Twitter.
“Forty people have been arrested. Six of those arrests were for assaults on police officers while the majority were for breaching conditions [of the Public Order Act, ‘to keep roads open and prevent serious disruption’].”
A screengrab from a live stream video shows Israeli navy forces approaching the Marinette, believed to be the only ship from the Global Sumud Flotilla still sailing towards Gaza.
Flotilla organisers reported that it has now been intercepted.
Footage circulating on social media shows Israeli Security Minister Ben Gvir appearing to taunt volunteers captured by the Israeli military.
Dozens of aid vessels were stopped as they approached the Gaza Strip and over 500 volunteers were detained.
“These are the flotilla terrorists,” he is heard saying. “Look at them, supporters of murderers.”
He said the group had left their ships “a mess”. Activists sitting on the floor chanted “Free Palestine” in return.
The International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza condemned the action, saying it showed Mr Gvir “swaggering before activists from 50 countries around the world, surrounded by his guards.”
There were clashes outside Downing Street as protesters demonstrated against the Israeli military’s detention of volunteers carrying aid to the Gaza Strip.
Footage circulating on social media shows chaotic scenes at Parliament Square in London as Police appeared to push back protesters. Reports suggest that some were arrested.
The Independent has contacted the Met Police for comment.
A vessel has docked in Cyprus, the island’s government said on Friday.
A spokesperson did not confirm whether the boat was part of the Gaza aid flotilla or those stopped by the Israeli military.
The Marinette continued to sail, diverting its route after every other vessel was stopped by the Israeli military.
Volunteers have been detained, in what organisers have called illegal “abductions”.
A government spokesperson said that the ship, carrying 21 foreign nationals, asked to dock in Larnaca for refuelling and humanitarian reasons.
Dozens of activists taken off a flotilla of yachts in international waters by Israeli commandos will be incarcerated at the notorious Ketziot prison in the Negev desert.
Omer Shatz, an Israeli international law expert at Sciences Po University in Paris, said unlike where flotilla activists were held the last time, Ketziot was a high-security prison that did not normally hold immigration detainees.
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