Hundreds of international activists detained after Israel’s raid on the Global Sumud Flotilla have launched an indefinite hunger strike, organizers said Friday, intensifying outrage over the largest seaborne challenge to Israel’s blockade of Gaza in nearly two decades.
The International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza confirmed that detainees began refusing food immediately after capture.
Israeli naval forces stormed the flotilla late Thursday in international waters, seizing nearly all 44 vessels and detaining more than 450 people from more than 50 countries.
Only one yacht, the Marinette, remained at sea.
The flotilla’s stated mission was to deliver symbolic aid and pierce Israel’s 17-year blockade of Gaza, a territory where nearly 2.4 million Palestinians endure shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
But its organizers admitted the larger goal was political: to draw global attention to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding since Israel’s offensive in Gaza began nearly a year ago.
“This was an illegal attack on unarmed humanitarians,” flotilla leaders said in a statement, warning that communications from their boats had been cut and the status of many participants remained unknown.
Israel defended the raid.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised his navy for intercepting what he called a “provocation,” saying the action on Yom Kippur “repelled a campaign of delegitimization against Israel.”
The Foreign Ministry posted photos of detainees, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, insisting they were “safe and in good health” and would be deported.
But the operation unleashed a storm of criticism abroad.
Türkiye denounced it as “terrorism.”
Colombia expelled Israel’s diplomats and froze a trade deal. Italy’s largest labor union called a nationwide strike in solidarity.
Protests erupted in cities from Istanbul to Rome, while marches in Paris and Barcelona spiraled into clashes with police.
Inside Israel, hundreds of police officers were deployed to Ashdod’s port to process detainees.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir confronted some of them directly, calling the group “terrorists,” only to be drowned out by chants of “Freedom for Palestine.”
The raid underscores mounting pressure on Israel over its campaign in Gaza.
Since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, incursion that killed about 1,200 people and abducted more than 250, Israel’s retaliatory assault has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which says most of the dead are women and children.
U.N. agencies warn famine and disease are spreading, and rights groups say the enclave is being rendered “uninhabitable.”
Israel argues its blockade is a lawful security measure to prevent Hamas from smuggling weapons.
Critics call it collective punishment, pointing to March’s two-and-a-half-month closure that blocked food and medicine deliveries and deepened Gaza’s famine.
Flotilla activists say their mission was to establish a humanitarian corridor by sea, circumventing land routes that Israel controls.
“Freedom for Palestine. Stop the genocide. Break the siege,” the committee said Friday, hailing the hunger strike as a continuation of their resistance.
