The Israeli military has intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters, arresting 211 activists, organizers confirmed Thursday, in an incident that caused international outrage.
Organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) said Thursday that Israel's army had "kidnapped" 211 activists, including a Paris city councillor, in the raid that took place off Greece.
Helene Coron, a spokeswoman for the GSF France, told an online news conference that the operation had taken place near the Greek island of Crete, at an "unprecedented" distance from the Gaza coast.
Yasmine Scola, an activist on board the flotilla, said her colleagues had been "kidnapped" by Israel.
Israel's foreign ministry had earlier put the number of those detained at 175.
Coron said those intercepted included Paris Communist local councillor Raphaelle Primet and another 10 French nationals.
"We don't have the information for the other nationalities, but the boats were mixed in terms of nationality, so there were crew members from all 48 delegations," she said.
Rome, in a government statement, called for the immediate release of "all the unlawfully detained Italians."
The organizers of the latest flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists seeking to break Israel's blockade on Gaza announced early Thursday that their boats had been surrounded by Israeli military ships while off the coast of Crete.
"At the time of publishing this statement (06:30 am Paris time, 04:30 GMT), at least 22 of the flotilla's 58 boats have been stormed by Israeli forces in complete violation of international law," the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement.
According to an AFP verification, based on tracking data from the organizers, the boats were intercepted in the Greek exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Around thirty boats from the flotilla are still en route, most now in Greek territorial waters south of Crete, according to the same source.
Coron said the operation had taken place over 1,000 kilometers from the Gaza Strip. The longest such operation to date had been 185 kilometers in June 2025, she said.
Israel's Foreign Ministry dismissed the initiative and that more than 20 of the ships were "now making their way peacefully to Israel."
Scola said her ship had been carrying school supplies and food.
The flotilla set sail in recent weeks from Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain and Syracuse in Italy.
Overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the flotilla said its boats had been "illegally surrounded" by Israeli vessels.
"Our boats were approached by military speedboats, self-identified as 'Israel,' pointing lasers and semi-automatic assault weapons, ordering participants to the front of the boats and to get on their hands and knees," the organization had said.
"Boat communications are being jammed and an SOS was issued."
In the summer and autumn of 2025, a first voyage by the Global Sumud Flotilla across the Mediterranean towards Gaza drew worldwide attention.
The boats in that flotilla were intercepted by Israel off the coasts of Egypt and the Gaza Strip in early October.
The Israeli operation, described as illegal by the organizers and by Amnesty International, drew international condemnation.
Crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were arrested and then expelled by Israel.
Israel controls all entry points to Gaza and has been accused by the United Nations and foreign NGOs of strangling the flow of goods into the territory, causing shortages since the start of its genocidal war in October 2023.
The Gaza Strip has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007 and the war triggered by the Hamas incursion into Israel has led to severe shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel.
A fragile cease-fire was reached last October after two years of devastating conflict.
The Hamas incursion in October 2023 caused 1,221deaths, according to official Israeli figures.
In comparison, the Israeli genocide in Gaza killed more than 72,000 people, mostly women and children, in the Palestinian territory, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
