Israel’s foreign ministry has said several vessels of the Gaza aid flotilla have been stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port.
In a statement Wednesday night, organisers said that “multiple vessels” of the flotilla had been intercepted and boarded by Israeli forces roughly 70 nautical miles (129km) from the Gaza coastline.
Among those on board the flotilla, Irish Senator Chris Andrews has been “detained” by Israel, according to Sinn Féin.
The party said Mr Andrews had been on board a boat called the Spectre which was intercepted by Israeli forces off the coast of Egypt.
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Hundreds of activists, lawyers, politicians and journalists - including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg - were on board the 41-boat flotilla as it attempted to deliver supplies of humanitarian aid to the famine-stricken territory, defying a naval blockade Israel has maintained around the strip since 2009.
The international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza said early on Thursday that Israeli navy forces were using “active aggression” on their fleet.
“Florida vessel has been deliberately rammed at sea. Yulara, Meteque and others have been targeted with water cannons,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a post on Telegram.
All passengers on board are unharmed, the Global Sumud Flotilla said.
Ms Thunberg, the Swedish climate campaigner, who was on the Alma in the flotilla, was arrested and taken into custody at the port of Ashdod. The Israeli foreign ministry posted a video of Thunberg’s arrest on X.
Earlier, the foreign ministry said in a post on X that Ms Thunberg and her friends were “safe and healthy”.
Live footage from lead boat, the Alma, showed the crew reacting with alarm to something in the sea to their right, before issuing a radio call to the rest of the flotilla that Israeli forces were coming and to “prepare for interception”. Their camera became disabled shortly afterwards.
“We will lose internet soon and we will throw away our phones when they are beside us so communication will be impossible,” Mr Andrews said in a message to the Irish Times shortly before his connection was lost. “We believe two ships have been intercepted.”
Prior to the operation, the flotilla had been on course to reach the shore of Gaza at 10am local time on Thursday (12pm Irish time).
Tánaiste Simon Harris said reports around the flotilla were “very concerning”.
“I am keeping in close contact with my officials who are working on the ground and have also spoken with EU counterparts on the Global Sumud Flotilla,” he said in a post on the social media network X.
“Ireland expects international law to be upheld and all those on board the flotilla to be treated in strict accordance with it.”
In a statement, Sinn Fein said that speaking earlier Mr Andrews emphasised the flotilla is a “purely humanitarian and non-violent mission carrying food and aid to a starving population”.
“The Irish Government and the Department of Foreign Affairs urgently need to act to ensure that my fellow Irish participants and I are not mistreated while in Israeli captivity,” he said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told reporters that it was becoming a “dangerous situation” and he believed people “shouldn’t progress farther”.
On board the flotilla, Mr Andrews accused Mr Martin of “bending the knee to Israel instead of standing up for Irish citizens on the flotilla”, and issued a call over social media for people to ask the Government to intervene and ensure the safety of the roughly 20 Irish citizens on board.
As the interceptions began, Irish activist Caitríona Graham described large unidentified vessels moving in the water and surrounding the lead flotilla boats with bright lights, as drones hummed overhead.
“We have various boats losing communications. Some of our radio channels have already been jammed,” she said in a voice note. A video showed passengers on her boat, the Aurora, singing “Bella Ciao” to keep their spirits up as they forged ahead while expecting they could be stopped at any moment.
“What we’re doing is fully legal. It is right according to what we should be doing as people in a situation like this, responding to a genocide. We are ready. They should not be doing this, it is unjust,” Ms Graham said.
In a statement, President Michael D Higgins said: “In recent weeks there was a near consensus among members of the United Nations that a Palestinian State should be recognised as an essential building block for peace in the region.
“We might well ask where stands this commitment now if a flotilla ... from the international community seeking to bring humanitarian aid - water, medicines and food to those who are in desperate need - is being prevented from achieving that humanitarian objective.
“Put together with the now clearly recognised breaches of international law and the status of the International Committee of the Red Cross being forced to suspend operations in Gaza City to this civilian population, all of these events should alarm the entire world,” he said.
Passengers on the flotilla have practiced daily drills to prepare for the possibility of being forcibly boarded by Israeli troops, and have been instructed to hold their hands up at all times to show they are not a threat.
Organisers vowed that whatever vessels had yet to be boarded would “continue undeterred” towards the Gaza coast.
It is not clear if all the boats had been intercepted or stopped. Some passengers said their vessels continued to advance.
The Israeli foreign ministry earlier said its navy had reached out to the flotilla to warn it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked them to change course.
[ Gaza flotilla in ‘danger’ and should not go farther, Taoiseach saysOpens in new window ]
The ministry said that it reiterated the offer to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.
It is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war.
This was the second time the flotilla was approached on Wednesday. Before dawn, the mission’s organisers said two Israeli “warships” had approached fast and encircled two of the flotilla’s boats.
All navigation and communication devices went down in what one organiser on board described as a “cyber attack”. A video post on the flotilla’s Instagram page showed the silhouette of what appeared to be a military vessel with a gun turret near the civilian boats.
Reuters confirmed that the video was filmed from the flotilla, but could not confirm the identity of the other vessel in the video or when the video was taken. Last week the flotilla was attacked by drones, which dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels, causing damage but no injuries.
Israel did not comment on that attack, but has said it will use any means to prevent the boats from reaching Gaza, arguing that its naval blockade is legal as it battles Hamas militants in the coastal enclave.
Italy and Spain deployed naval ships to help with any rescue or humanitarian needs but stopped following the flotilla once it got within 150 nautical miles (278 km) of Gaza for safety reasons. Turkish drones have also followed the boats.
-Additional reporting agencies
