Israeli naval forces, including commandos from the elite Shayetet 13 unit, began taking control of boats participating in the latest Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla on Monday morning, according to videos and accounts posted to social media by activists aboard the vessels.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a preliminary security consultation regarding the flotilla, which includes Hamas supporters, before the interception, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post.
During the takeover of the flotilla, Netanyahu, along with Defense Minister Israel Katz and IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir, spoke to the commander of Flotilla 3 and praised the soldiers.
“I think you are doing an outstanding job, both with the first flotilla and with this one, and effectively neutralizing a malicious plan designed to break the isolation we have imposed on Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” Netanyahu said.
“You are doing this with great success, and I must say also quietly, and certainly with less prominence than our enemies expected – so, heartfelt congratulations. Keep going until the end. The water looks absolutely wonderful. I would love to be out there with you."
Footage and posts published by flotilla participants showed armed Israeli troops boarding the vessels and detaining activists on board. They were reportedly being transferred to a larger Israeli Navy vessel before being taken to Ashdod.
There was no immediate official Israeli military statement confirming the full scope of the operation or the number of vessels intercepted.
The Turkish flotilla, which includes 53 vessels and some 500 participants, was organized by the IHH, the same group behind the Mavi Marmara flotilla. In addition to the naval flotilla, a 30-vehicle land convoy set out from Libya to Gaza on Saturday as part of the GSF.
The flotilla is an element of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which departed Turkey for Gaza on Thursday on its second blockade run, the first of which occured in April and ended with 20 of its vessels intercepted by the Israeli Navy.
The group said 10 boats had been intercepted and contact lost with 23 of the 54 vessels in the flotilla, naming some two dozen Turks among those on the intercepted vessels, some 250 nautical miles (463 km) from Gaza. It said there were 426 people taking part in the flotilla from 39 countries.
According to GSF social media and ship tracker, about 22 vessels and 46 activists were detained by the naval force.
The GSF called the incident an act of extrajudicial high-seas piracy in a press statement, coming four days after the flotilla embarked from Turkey on its second attempt since its first interception near Crete on April 29.
Organizers claim the flotilla constitutes a peaceful and humanitarian mission, claims that Israel has repeatedly challenged.
GSF rejected the claims of any of its members being violent as a pretext to carry out "war crimes and crimes against humanity against an unarmed, non-violent civil society mission composed of doctors, journalists, and humanitarians."
The activists have claimed, in addition to their objective of raising awareness about the ongoing Israeli blockade of the Hamas enclave, that they were bringing humanitarian aid to a starved Gaza Strip.
Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories rejected claims that Gaza was deprived of aid on social media, asserting that in contrast to the 600 aid trucks entering the Strip daily, there was no aid on the vessels.
The interception of the flotilla was connected to the halt of the simultaneous land convoy that had set out from Zalitan on Saturday. The Maghreb Sumud Organization said on Sunday night that it had stopped in Sirte because it understood that Libyan forces would not allow it to pass. The city was the end point for the previous land convoy in June.
The flotilla had first been intercepted on April 29, with two of its leading activists detained for several days and the rest deposited on Greek shores.
The flotilla had originally set out from Barcelona on April 15, after their April 12 launch date was disrupted by stormy weather. The flotilla met with additional vessels in Italy, before sailing with 56 vessels on April 26 to attempt their first blockade run of the year.
Foreign Ministry: Flotilla is a ‘provocation’ serving Hamas
Earlier Monday, the Foreign Ministry dismissed the flotilla as “a provocation for the sake of provocation,” saying the convoy was not a genuine humanitarian mission and accusing its organizers of seeking to aid Hamas politically.
“Once again, a provocation for the sake of provocation: another so-called ‘humanitarian aid flotilla’ with no humanitarian aid,” the ministry said.
The ministry said two "violent" Turkish groups, Mavi Marmara and IHH, were involved in the flotilla, adding that IHH had been designated as a terrorist organization. It added that the purpose of the flotilla was “to serve Hamas, to divert attention from Hamas’s refusal to disarm, and to obstruct progress on President Trump’s peace plan.”
The ministry also cited the Board of Peace, which oversees humanitarian activities in Gaza under UN Security Council Resolution 2803, saying the body had made clear that the flotilla was “only about publicity.” Israel said that since October 2025, more than 1.58 million tons of humanitarian aid and thousands of tons of medical supplies had entered Gaza.
“Israel will not allow any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza,” the ministry said, calling on participants “to change course and turn back immediately.”
Miriam Sela-Eitam, Shir Perets, and Reuters contributed to this report.