None of the 40 vessels participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla, which Israel intercepted on Yom Kippur, was carrying humanitarian aid, according to the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
The ministry also released a video by the Israeli Police featuring spokesperson Dean Elsdunne showing the empty interior of one of the flotilla’s largest vessels.
The spokesperson points out that the complete lack of aid explains why the organizers refused Israel’s and multiple countries’ offers to hand over the aid and avoid entering an active war zone and breaking the law.
“It was never about bringing aid to Gaza. It was about the headlines and social media followings”, Elsdunne says in the video.
Another flotilla heading for Gaza
Separately, another flotilla is now heading towards the Gaza Strip, according to social media posts by the Sumud Flotilla.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has confirmed that a boat named “Conscience” departed Italy on Wednesday carrying around 100 people who describe themselves as activists. The group claims that many of the passengers are also “healthcare workers and journalists”.
Another eight boats have set sail from Italy nearly a week ago, and according to live tracking over the internet, the nine ships are currently near Crete.
At the same time, the Sumud Flotilla X accounts report that a second flotilla of 45 boats has left the port of Arsuz in Turkey for Gaza, hosting a video to support this. However, it has not yet been officially confirmed whether the boats shown are indeed heading for Gaza.
Ben-Gvir says flotilla participants should be imprisoned
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said in a video posted on X/Twitter that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision "to allow the terror supporters from the flotilla to return to their countries is a mistake.
"I think they must be kept here in an Israeli prison for a few months, so they can smell the scent of the terrorists' wing.
"After all, it can't just be that [Netanyahu] sends them back to their countries again and again and again, which causes them to return again and again and again."