The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the Israeli Occupation Forces’ (IOF) attack on the “Global Sumud Flotilla” while it was sailing off the Gaza Strip’s coast in an attempt to break Israel’s illegal and inhumane blockade. The flotilla sought to protest the ongoing crime of starvation and genocide perpetrated against more than 2 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
According to available information, Israeli naval warships, during the night of 1 October and at dawn on 2 October 2025, intercepted a total of 41 vessels while they were sailing in international waters en route to the Gaza Strip’s coast. This assault constitutes a blatant violation of international law and an act of piracy. The IOF forcibly boarded the vessels, transferring their crews and hundreds of solidarity activists to Ashdod Seaport.
These vessels are part of a larger flotilla of 48 ships carrying 496 solidarity activists from 44 countries, which set sail at the end of last August as part of a global movement to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and to break Israel’s unlawful siege on the Gaza Strip.
The danger of IOF storming the remaining ships- some of which have already reached the outskirts of 40 nautical miles off Gaza’s coast- remains imminent amid Israel’s declared threats to forcibly seize them and prevent the continuation of their humanitarian mission.
“The participants in the Gaza flotilla to break the siege represent the vanguard of the world’s free people and the spearhead of the global solidarity movement with Palestine and the Palestinian people in their struggle against occupation, apartheid, and genocide. They do not stand alone-behind them are millions across the globe who support the Palestinian people’s right to justice, dignity, and an end to genocide and occupation. The Gaza flotilla’s mission embodies a legal, humanitarian, and moral superiority, while further exposing Israel’s deepening international isolation. The targeting of such a large number of vessels and peaceful volunteers demonstrates Israel’s blatant disregard for all international laws and conventions and reaffirms its perpetuation to pursue aggressive policies aimed at isolating Gaza and criminalizing solidarity with it. Such policies are sustained by international silence that fuels Israel’s ongoing siege and genocide,” commented Raji Sourani, PCHR Director.
It should be recalled that on 27 July 2025, the Israeli navy attacked the Gaza-bound Handala flotilla and detained 19 of its crew members and solidarity activists on board. Earlier, on 9 June 2025, the IOF carried out a similar assault on the Madleen flotilla, arresting 12 international solidarity activists while they were sailing in international waters before reaching the Gaza Strip’s coast.
These international solidarity efforts come in the context of Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip for the past two years—a genocide that has killed and wounded more than 10% of the Strip’s total population, imposed unprecedented starvation that has already claimed the lives of at least 455 Palestinians, including 151 children, and continues amid the international community’s and governments’ failure to uphold their legal obligations to take immediate action to halt the crime of genocide, address its devastating repercussions on the Palestinian people, and implement the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice.
PCHR condemns these acts of piracy against the international solidarity flotillas and holds the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the hundreds of international solidarity activists on board. PCHR reiterates its call on the international community to take immediate and concrete action to end Israel’s ongoing defiance of international law, halt the crime of genocide in the Gaza Strip, and lift the unlawful siege imposed on more than two million Palestinians.
