Gaza flotilla intercepted by Israel on Yom Kippur amid dispute over aid cargo

Israel said the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) was carrying plenty of activists, but no aid. 

The flotilla, which consisted of 40 vessels, was intercepted on Thursday during Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.

Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a video featuring Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne walking in what he said was one of the largest vessels in the flotilla and showing that it was empty.

“When we and multiple other countries offered them to take this aid and bring it to the Gazans — we could facilitate its safe arrival — they flat out rejected it, and now we know why: because it was never about bringing aid to Gazans, but it was all about the headlines and the social media followings,” Elsdunne said in the video as he walked through the empty flotilla vessel.

ISRAEL CLAIMS GRETA THUNBERG’S FLOTILLA SEEKING TO BREAK GAZA BLOCKADE HAS HAMAS TIES, CITES DOCUMENTS

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the interception and said the members of the Israeli Navy who carried it out did so in “the most professional and efficient manner.” He also said that their actions prevented the entry of dozens of vessels into a war zone.

The GSF maintains that its ships were carrying aid, including baby formula, food and medicine. In response to a Fox News Digital request for comment, GSF said it would be posting photos and videos of the aid to Instagram and Telegram.

The organization called the interception of its fleet “illegal” and claimed the participants had been “kidnapped” and not released. 

“After Israeli occupation naval forces illegally intercepted vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla — a peaceful, non-violent convoy carrying food, baby formula, medicine, and volunteers from 47 countries to Gaza — hundreds of participants have been abducted and reportedly taken aboard the large naval vessel, the MSC Johannesburg,” GSF said in a statement.

“Intercepting humanitarian vessels in international waters is a war crime; denying legal counsel and concealing the fate of those seized compounds that crime,” the group added.

ITALY’S MELONI SAYS GAZA FLOTILLA RISKS ESCALATION, COULD ‘BLOW UP’ POTENTIAL CEASEFIRE DEAL

However, Israel has said that four Italian citizens who were detained from the flotilla have been deported while the rest of the deportations are being processed.

“Israel is keen to end this procedure as quickly as possible,” the ministry said. “As Israel, Italy, Greece, and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem have stated time and again, any aid these boats might have carried, as little as it was, could have been peacefully transferred to Gaza. This was nothing but a provocation.”

Activists on the flotilla who have since been detained include climate advocate Greta Thunberg and Mandla Mandela, who is the grandson of Nelson Mandela.

This won’t be the first time Thunberg is deported from Israel. She was previously detained by Israeli authorities in June after participating in a separate Gaza-bound flotilla and was later sent back to Sweden on a flight via France. 

At the time, she chose to be deported while other activists refused. Thunberg told attorneys with Adalah, a legal center for Arab minority rights in Israel, that she could do “more good outside of Israel” and that refusing to leave would “harm” her cause, the Times of Israel reported. Adalah is now representing the GSF participants. 

GRETA THUNBERG’S FLOTILLA BOMBARDED WITH ABBA MUSIC AFTER RADIOS HIJACKED: REPORT

Brian Cox, an adjunct professor at Cornell Law School and a retired U.S. Army judge advocate, pushed back on those arguing that the interception of the flotilla was illegal.

“International law provides very detailed rules regarding the conduct of a naval blockade and the interdiction of vessels attempting to breach a blockade. Available evidence indicates Israel followed these legal obligations to the letter when interdicting the Global Sumud Flotilla,” Cox told Fox News Digital.

In a thread on X, Cox pushed back against former British diplomat Carig Murray, who asserted that Israel lacked jurisdiction. 

Cox said that it did not matter if the fleet was on the high seas and not within 12 nautical miles of Israel.

“Vessels are subject to capture outside neutral waters if they are breaching or attempting to breach a blockade,” Cox wrote, citing the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea. He also dismissed the idea that the blockade in question had to be temporary, saying the manual does not have a provision requiring it to be “short term.”

In response, Murray pushed back, saying the manual is “useful as a guide to customary international law as it stood 30 years ago, but is no more than that.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Murray for comment.