The Israeli Navy on Monday began intercepting vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip, just weeks after an earlier flotilla was thwarted and two of its activists detained, Newswire reported. The action came as the fleet, comprising more than 50 vessels that departed Marmaris, Turkey, last week, attempted what organisers described as the final leg of its journey to Gaza.
Naval commandos boarded the first of the flotilla’s boats off the Cyprus coast, according to a livestream that ended abruptly soon after. “Military vessels are currently intercepting our fleet and (Israeli) forces are boarding the first of our boats in broad daylight,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement on X.
Sri Lankan activist Sameera Mahboobdeen is among the participants and her status is unknown, Newswire said. Mahboobdeen is the Sri Lankan delegate to the international civil-society convoy that has been sailing in a renewed bid to challenge Israel’s naval blockade of the enclave.
The interception is the second time in a short span that the Israeli Navy has stopped a Gaza-bound humanitarian fleet, and follows a pattern of boardings dating to earlier 2026 missions. Activist organisations have framed the renewed mission as a non-violent breach of the blockade carrying medical aid and supplies; Israel has historically treated such flotillas as illegal blockade-runners and diverted detained vessels to Ashdod.
The Sri Lankan government has not yet commented on Mahboobdeen’s status. The interception lands during a period of heightened regional volatility — the US-Iran war’s truce was tested by drones over Saudi Arabia and the UAE on Sunday — and as international scrutiny of conditions in Gaza intensifies amid reports that scores of women and girls are still dying daily.
Source: Newswire.
