![A screengrab from a live video footage shows crew members sitting in a circle aboard the Gaza-bound Alma vessel. [Global Sumud Flotilla/Handout via Reuters] (Reuters)](https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/A-screengrab-from-a-live-video-footage-shows-crew-members-sitting-in-a-circle-aboard-the-Gaza-bound-Alma-vessel.jpg)
Rabat – Israeli naval forces have intercepted several ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a humanitarian mission carrying aid and activists aiming to break the blockade on Gaza.
Activists on board reported that vessels, including the Alma and the Sirius, were surrounded by Israeli warships in international waters before being ordered to change course, Al Jazeera reported.
The flotilla is made up of more than 45 ships, one of them named after Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Organizers said they hoped that by spreading the ships out, at least some would make it to Gaza.
A spokesperson for the flotilla, Saif Abukeshk, told Al Jazeera from Athens that the mission had been directly confronted at sea. “Some of the ships were surrounded by military vessels. Others lost internet connection,” he said as he accused Israel of using famine as a weapon of war.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the flotilla a “provocation” and not a humanitarian mission. It said the activists had been warned they were entering a combat zone and violating a “lawful naval blockade.”
The ministry claimed Israel, alongside Italy and Greece, had offered to transfer any aid through official channels.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said he was assured by his Israeli counterpart that no violence would be used against the ships.
“The boarding was planned so that there would be no violent actions on the part of the Tel Aviv armed forces, and this has been assured to me,” Tajani told Italian television.
He added that Italians on board would likely be taken to Ashdod and expelled.
