Israel intercepts 39 aid boats heading for Gaza, organisers say, sparking criticism

A picture posted by the Israeli foreign ministry showing members of the Global Sumud Flotilla, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, after Israeli forces boarded at least 13 boats.

Israeli forces have intercepted 39 boats carrying aid and foreign activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, to Gaza, leaving only one vessel still sailing towards the Palestinian enclave, the flotilla organisers said on Thursday.

Cameras broadcasting live feeds from the boats, verified by Reuters, showed Israeli soldiers sporting helmets and night vision goggles boarding the ships, while passengers huddled together in life vests with their hands up.

An number of Irish people are on board the boats, including Sinn Féín senator Chris Andrews. 

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said Irish authorities are in touch with citizens on the intercepted flotilla to Gaza as he called for them to be treated “properly and appropriately”.

Speaking in Copenhagen ahead of a meeting of the European Political Community, the Taoiseach said he is “receiving briefings” on the flotilla.

“Our ambassador is in touch with the Israeli authorities, and we will be providing consular assistance to those who have been detained,” he said.

“It's important that they're treated properly. It's a humanitarian mission, no threat to anybody other than to highlight, and also to bring humanitarian aid into the people of Gaza.

In Dublin, Tánaiste and foreign affairs minister Simon Harris will convene a meeting of senior officials this Thursday morning to discuss the flotilla. He is also due to speak with Ireland’s Ambassador to Israel.

Mr Harris said that the “latest understanding is that passengers will be transferred to an Israeli port for processing and that Ireland’s Embassy on the ground will liaise with local authorities and provide consular assistance”.

On Wednesday, Sinn Féin said Mr Andrews had been on board a boat called the Spectre which was intercepted by Israeli forces off the coast of Egypt. 

Also among the Irish citizens to be detained was Tara O’Grady. She was one of a number of crew on the flotilla who pre-recorded messages that were to be sent if they were held by Israeli forces.

“This message is to appeal to my family, my friends, my government, all of our public representatives in Ireland, to appeal for our swift release,” she said in her message, which was recorded during daylight, and while the flotilla was sailing to the interception point, about 70 nautical miles from Gaza.

A video from the Israeli foreign ministry on Thursday showed Ms Thunberg, the most prominent of the flotilla's passengers, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.

According to a tracker on the organiser, Global Sumud Flotilla's website, one boat was still sailing.

"Several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port," the Israeli foreign ministry said on X. "Greta and her friends are safe and healthy."

Already several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port.
Greta and her friends are safe and healthy. pic.twitter.com/PA1ezier9s

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 1, 2025

The flotilla, which set sail in late August, is transporting medicine and food to Gaza and consists of more than 40 civilian vessels with about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists. It's the highest-profile symbol of opposition to Israel's blockade of Gaza.

The flotilla's progress across the Mediterranean Sea garnered international attention as nations including Turkey, Spain and Italy sent boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance, even as it triggered repeated warnings from Israel to turn back.

Turkey’s foreign ministry called Israel’s “attack” on the flotilla “an act of terror” that endangered the lives of innocent civilians.

The Istanbul chief prosecutor's office said it had launched an investigation into the detention of 24 Turkish citizens on the vessels on charges including deprivation of liberty, seizure of transport vehicles and damage to property, Turkey’s state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

Israel's interception of the flotilla sparked protests in Italy and Colombia, while protests were also called in Greece, Ireland and Turkey. Italian unions called a general strike for Friday.

Israel's navy had previously warned the flotilla it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked organisers to change course. It had offered to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.

The flotilla is the latest seaborne attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war.

In a statement, Hamas expressed support for the activists and called Israel's interception of the flotilla a "criminal act", calling for public protests to condemn Israel.

The boats were about 70 nautical miles off Gaza when they were intercepted, inside a zone that Israel is policing to stop any boats approaching. The organisers said their communications, including the use of a live camera feed from some of the boats, had been scrambled.

Greece said it has been informed that 39 boats from the flotilla are sailing to the Israeli port of Ashdod and that everyone onboard is safe, no violence was exerted, the Greek public broadcaster reported.

The flotilla had hoped to arrive in Gaza on Thursday morning if it was not intercepted.

Israeli officials have repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt.

"This systematic refusal (to hand over the aid) demonstrates that the objective is not humanitarian, but provocative," Jonathan Peled, the Israeli ambassador to Italy, said in a post on X.

• Reuters