Early this morning, Wednesday 1 October, the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to the Gaza Strip was intercepted by Israeli warships in the Mediterranean Sea, in a move described by the fleet’s organizers as “maritime piracy” and a flagrant violation of international law.

Suspicious movements and unlit naval vessels

According to sources on board the ships, one of the Israeli naval vessels approached within five feet of the Alma, the flotilla’s flagship, and carried out electronic jamming operations targeting the communications systems on board a number of participating ships, temporarily disabling the engine of one of the ships before the warship withdrew.

The technical team was then able to restore communication between the ships, and the flotilla resumed its course toward the Gaza Strip coast, where it is currently about 120 nautical miles from shore.

Field correspondents aboard the Shirin, one of the fleet’s ships, reported seeing a large Israeli warship without navigation lights hovering near the fleet’s location amid continuous flights by reconnaissance drones in the skies above the area, prompting the alert level to be raised to the highest level.

The fleet had temporarily lowered its alert level earlier, after receiving information that there was no imminent threat, but recent developments prompted the leadership to declare a state of emergency again in anticipation of any possible attack.

Security measures and emergency protocols from the flotilla

As the threat escalated, activists aboard the Alma implemented the approved emergency protocol, which includes throwing mobile phones and smart devices into the sea to prevent any attempt to seize or hack data in the event that the ships are intercepted by the occupation forces.

Reports confirmed that Israeli jamming targeted navigation and communication systems in an attempt to isolate the fleet, a tactic that is repeated in every maritime attempt to break the naval blockade imposed on Gaza.

In official statements, the coordinator of the flotilla said that details of the violations against the fleet had been documented, adding:

For hours, we faced a dangerous maritime harassment operation, in which unidentified military ships without any lights surrounded the command ship ‘Alma’ from a dangerous distance, while Israeli drones continued to fly in the area’s airspace.

A direct electronic attack was carried out, causing interference with our equipment and disrupting communication systems and the engine of one of the ships, forcing us to declare an immediate state of emergency and issue an urgent appeal to the international community to protect our humanitarian mission.

He held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for the safety of those on board the flotilla, stressing that intercepting relief ships sailing in international waters is a flagrant violation of international law and a crime that must be accounted for.

An ongoing escalation

The flotilla coordinator called for urgent international and popular pressure to ensure that we are not intercepted or interfered with, stressing that the mission is purely humanitarian and aims to break the naval blockade and deliver aid to civilians trapped in Gaza.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is an international civil initiative comprising volunteers and human rights activists from several countries. It aims to break the naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip since 2007 by sending ships carrying humanitarian and symbolic aid, as well as delivering a political and moral message about the need to end the blockade.

This attempt is part of a series of previous maritime initiatives, most notably the Freedom Flotilla in 2010, which was attacked by Israeli forces, resulting in civilian casualties.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alaa Shamali

This post was originally published on Canary.