Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Israeli military intercepted on Monday (May 18, 2026) boats off the coast of Cyprus, part of the latest wave of flotilla activists attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza.

More than 50 vessels departed from the port in Marmaris, Turkiye, last week in what the organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla described as the final leg of their planned journey to Gaza’s shores.

The organisation’s livestream on Monday (May 18, 2026) showed activists aboard several vessels putting on life jackets and raising their hands before a boat carrying Israeli troops approached. Wearing tactical gear, they boarded the ship, and the livestream abruptly ended. Many of the ships are currently off the coast of Cyprus.

Other footage showed Israeli forces on speedboats approaching and instructing the activists to move to the front of the boat. At least 17 boats were intercepted in the first three hours of the operation, according to Global Sumud Flotilla’s tracker.

Organisers said the boats were intercepted 250 nautical miles from the shores of Gaza. Unlike previous interceptions, which mostly took place under the cover of night, the Israeli military boarded the boats in broad daylight.

Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007, a year after winning Palestinian parliamentary elections. The blockade restricts the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza. Egypt has also occasionally closed the Rafah crossing, which, before the current war, was the only border crossing not under Israel’s control.

Critics consider it collective punishment.

The flotilla organisers said they expect the activists to be taken to the port of Ashdod, in southern Israel. Activists on previous flotillas were brought to the same port, where some were processed and immediately deported, while others requested a trial and were detained.

An hour prior to the interception, Israel’s Foreign Ministry called on activists to “change course and turn back immediately.”

“Once again, a provocation for the sake of provocation: another so-called “humanitarian aid flotilla” with no humanitarian aid,” the Foreign Ministry posted on X.

The Israeli military declined to comment on the ongoing operation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, watching the operation from the military headquarters in Tel Aviv, commended the soldiers for “thwarting a malicious plan designed to break the isolation we are imposing on Hamas terrorists in Gaza.”

Mr. Netanyahu was supposed to be in court on Monday (May 18, 2026) to testify in his ongoing corruption trial, but requested a cancellation due to all-day security meetings.

Hamas has condemned Israel’s attack on the flotilla as a “full-fledged crime of piracy.” The militant group called on the international community to pressure Israel to end its blockade of Gaza.

Turkiye echoed Hamas’ piracy accusation and called on Israel to immediately halt the operation and release the flotilla participants.

“Israel’s attacks and intimidation policies will in no way prevent the international community’s pursuit of justice or its solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Turkiye was working to secure the safe return of its own citizens taking part in the flotilla, the Ministry added.

On April 30, Israeli forces intercepted more than 20 boats from a flotilla near the southern Greek island of Crete, initially holding about 175 activists. Israeli officials said they had to act early because of the high number of boats involved.

Israel took two of the activists — a Spanish-Swedish citizen of Palestinian origin, Saif Abukeshek, and Brazilian citizen Thiago Ávila — back to Israel, where they were interrogated and detained for several days. The activists accused Israeli forces of torture, which Israel denied. Brazil and Spain condemned Israel for “kidnapping” their citizens. The two were deported from Israel after about a week in detention.

Organisers say the latest efforts involved a regrouped fleet joined by additional boats. Nearly 500 activists from 45 countries were taking part.

The activists’ attempt comes less than a year after Israeli authorities foiled a previous effort by the group to reach Gaza, which involved about 50 vessels and around 500 activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela and several European lawmakers.

Israel arrested, detained and later deported the participants, who claimed Israeli authorities abused them while in detention. Israeli authorities denied the accusations.

The Israeli action raised questions about what any nation can legally do to enforce a blockade in international waters. Several world leaders and human rights groups have condemned Israel, saying it violated international law.

Previous efforts to breach the blockade have also failed. In 2010, Israeli commandos raided the Turkish boat Mavi Marmara, which had been participating in an aid flotilla attempting to reach Gaza. Nine Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American on board were killed. The last time an activist boat succeeded in reaching Gaza was in 2008.

The ceasefire between Israel and Hamas remains fragile, and the top diplomat overseeing it says it has stalled because of the deadlock over disarming Hamas. Both sides have traded accusations of violations. Gaza has seen near-daily Israeli fire with more than 850 people killed in the Palestinian territory since the ceasefire went into effect in October, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

The Ministry is part of Gaza’s Hamas-run government, but staffed by medical professionals who maintain and publish detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community. The Ministry says Israel’s retaliatory strikes in the war have devastated the Palestinian enclave and killed more than 72,700 people.

The flotillas have been criticised for bringing minute amounts of aid on tiny ships. The Israeli defence body overseeing humanitarian aid to Gaza claims that sufficient aid is entering Gaza, with around 600 trucks carrying humanitarian aid entering Gaza daily, similar to prewar levels.

Nonetheless, around two million Gaza residents are still living with severe shortages of housing, food and medicine.

Flotilla organisers have said they hope their latest attempt to reach Gaza will help highlight the living conditions endured by Palestinians in the territory, particularly as global attention has shifted its focus to the U.S. and Israel’s war against Iran.

Published – May 18, 2026 05:36 pm IST

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators take part in a protest against Israel’s interception of aid ships bound for Gaza in international waters, outside the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, April 30, 2026. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

International activists who arrived in Istanbul after being deported from Israel following the military’s interception of their Gaza-bound flotilla said on Saturday (October 5, 2025) they had been subjected to violence and “treated like animals”.

The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail last month seeking to ferry aid to war-battered Gaza but Israel blocked the boats, detaining more than 400 people whom it began deporting on Friday.

Of that number, 137 activists from 13 countries flew into Istanbul on Saturday (October 5, 2025), among them 36 Turkish nationals.

Also Read | Rallies against Israel interception of Gaza flotilla sweep Europe

“We were intercepted by a huge number of military vessels,” Paolo Romano, a regional councillor from Lombardy in Italy, told AFP at Istanbul airport.

“Some boats were also hit by water cannon. All of the boats were taken by very heavily armed people and brought to shore,” the 29-year-old said.

“They put us on our knees, facing down. And if we moved, they hit us. They were laughing at us, insulting us and hitting us,” he said.

“They were using both psychological and physical violence.”

Among those on board the flotilla, which counted some 45 vessels, were politicians and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.

Mr. Romano said they tried to force them to admit they had entered Israel illegally. “But we never entered Israel illegally. We were in international waters and it was our right to be there.”

On landing, they were taken to a prison and held there without being allowed out and were not given bottled water, he said. “They were opening the door during the night and shouting at us with guns to scare us,” he said. “We were treated like animals.”

‘Worst experience’

Iylia Balqis, a 28-year-old activist from Malaysia, said Israel’s interception of the boats was “the worst experience”.

“We were handcuffed (with hands behind our backs), we couldn’t walk, some of us were made to lie face down on the ground, and then we were denied water, and some of us were denied medicine,” she said.

The activists were flown to Istanbul on a specially-chartered Turkish Airlines plane.

In a post on X, the Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed “137 more provocateurs of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla were deported today to Turkey”.

Relatives of the Turkish activists could be seen awaiting their arrival at the VIP lounge inside Istanbul airport, waving Turkish and Palestinian flags and chanting “Israel murderer”.

The Turkish activists were to undergo medical checks on arrival and would appear in court on Sunday to give testimony, their lawyers said.

Turkiye has denounced Israel’s interception of the flotilla as “an act of terrorism”, saying on Thursday it had opened an investigation.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan praised the activists as “brave individuals who gave voice to humanity’s conscience” in a post on X and said Ankara would ensure all of its nationals were brought back, without giving an overall number.

Italian journalist Lorenzo D’Agostino, who was on board the flotilla to cover its mission, said they “were kidnapped in international waters when we were 55 miles (88 kilometres) from Gaza”.

“It was two hellish days that we spent in prison. We are out now thanks to the pressure of the international public that supports Palestine,” he said.

“I really hope this situation ends soon because it has been barbaric the way we have been treated.” Libyan activist Malik Qutait said he was not afraid and vowed to keep trying to reach Gaza.

“I will collect my group, arrange medicine, aid and a ship and I will try again,” he said.

Published – October 05, 2025 11:06 am IST

A screengrab from a video shows a multi-view screen with live-feed from Global Sumud Flotilla boats sailing to Gaza, mid-sea, on October 1, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters.