TEHRAN – Earlier on Monday, the Israeli Navy forced intercept the British cracked aid ship Madreen in international waters, detaining unarmed crews and passengers, including Greenpeace activist Greta Samberg and French Mep Lima Hassan.
The operation that activists and legal scholars call copyright infringement and adduction acts is just another step in growing aggression that enforces blockades on besieged Palestinian enclaves.
The distortion doesn’t work
The Freedom Frotilla Union (FFC)-run Madline departed from Catania, Italy, with baby formula, rice, medical supplies and other essentials, hoping to break Israeli naval blockades and spotlight Gaza’s worsening humanitarian crisis.
Approaching the coast of Gaza, the ship was surrounded by Israeli commands of Shaytet 13 and boarded, with drones and quadcopter support, mounts of white powder of stimulants, and all communications were shut down. Activists said the situation was in panic and confused, raising hands, struggling with life jackets and being ordered to prepare for detention.
Israeli authorities confirmed that they had seized control of the vessel, detained all 12 activists, and brought it in for questioning and deportation.
The Israeli regime defended the operation as a legitimate security measure. According to Israel Katz, Israeli War Minister, “all measures need” was adopted to block attempts to break the lockdown.
Officials from the Israeli government claimed that the humanitarian mission was “promotion stunts” and that they named the activists “Hamas Propaganda spokesman.” However, these counterfeiting does not change people’s opinions about Israel’s hidden intentions.
Global anger and condemnation
The global response to Israel’s seizure of Madreen was swift and extremely important. Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur for Occupy Palestinian Territories, called for the immediate release of the ship and its crew, calling the destruction of the siege of Gaza a legal and moral order, and urged the sending of aid vessels to Mediterranean ports.
Amnesty International’s executive director, Agnese Caramad, denounced the interception as a “cool light empty” of international law, underscoring Israel’s obligation to ensure safe access to supplies essential for Gaza, and demanded the unconditional release of activists.
The Turkish government has labelled the attack as “heinous conduct” and “a clear violation of international law,” and has called for international measures to brand Israel a “terrorist state” and to stop its cruelty. European lawmakers and NGOs have condemned the action as part of a blatant violation of the law and a strategy to starve Gaza. Greenpeace and Palestinian groups reflected these calls, calling for seizure piracy and urgent intervention.
Israel’s broader lockdown strategy
The Madleen incident shows straightforwardly Israel’s uncompromising multi-tiered strategy to enforce the Navy Blockade in Gaza. Israel, even in international waters, preemptively intercepts vessels attempting to deploy military forces and violate blockades, arguing that such missions pose a direct security threat regardless of humanitarian intent.
Israel maintains strict surveillance of those entering Gaza by redirecting intercepted aid to its own strict, controlled channels, claiming policy critics will deliberately throttle life-saving supplies and exacerbate Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. At the same time, Israeli authorities are working to discredit activists by labeling them as Hamas sympathizers or merely propagandists, aiming to undermine international solidarity efforts and thwart future challenges.
Despite increasing global condemnation, Israel’s strategy is maintained by robust Western political support that allows for diplomatically isolated and continuous, suffocating lockdowns.
Humanitarian and political consequences
Madreen’s interception sparked much debate about Israel’s blockade, activists’ rights and the humanitarian emergency in Gaza.
Madreen’s mission has been cancelled, but it has revealed the extreme measures Israel has resorted to to maintain its siege, its allies’ accomplices and the urgent need for the international community to resist the suffering of Gaza.
The fleet’s journey may seem almost iconic, but since October 2023 it has banished, evacuated, killed Gaza, starving a population of 2.3 million.
“Madreen may have been stopped at sea, but the message travels far. The lockdown is invisible. Not forever. Each disrupted vessel, each detained activist, reaffirms that Gaza will never forget, Al Jazeera.