Israel has “kidnapped” 211 activists, including a Paris city councillor, in the raid [Getty]
Organisers of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on Thursday said Israel’s army had “kidnapped” 211 activists including a Paris city councillor in a raid in international waters off Greece.
Helene Coron, a spokeswoman for the Global Sumud France, told an online news conference that the operation had taken place near the Greek island of Crete, at an “unprecedented” distance from the Gaza coast.
Yasmine Scola, an activist on board the flotilla, said her colleagues had been “kidnapped” by Israel.
Israel’s foreign ministry had earlier put the number of those detained at 175.
Coron said those intercepted included Paris Communist local councillor Raphaelle Primet and another 10 French nationals.
“We don’t have the information for the other nationalities, but the boats were mixed in terms of nationality, so there were crew members from all 48 delegations,” she said.
Rome, in a government statement, called for the immediate release of “all the unlawfully detained Italians”.
Some ships still on route
The organisers of the latest flotilla of pro-Palestinian activists seeking to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza announced early on Thursday that their boats had been surrounded by Israeli military ships while off the coast of Crete.
“At the time of publishing this statement (06:30 am Paris time, 04:30 GMT), at least 22 of the flotilla’s 58 boats have been stormed by Israeli forces in complete violation of international law,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement.
According to an AFP verification, based on tracking data from the organisers, the boats were intercepted in the Greek exclusive economic zone (EEZ).
Around thirty boats from the flotilla are still en route, most now in Greek territorial waters south of Crete, according to the same source.
Coron said the operation had taken place over 1,000 kilometres from the Gaza Strip. The longest such operation to date had been 185 kilometres in June 2025, she said.
Israel’s foreign ministry dismissed the initiative as a “condom flotilla” after prophylactics were found in a previous convoy, adding that more than 20 of the ships were “now making their way peacefully to Israel”.
Scola said her ship had been carrying school supplies and food.
The flotilla set sail in recent weeks from Marseille in France, Barcelona in Spain and Syracuse in Italy.
Overnight from Wednesday to Thursday, the flotilla said its boats had been “illegally surrounded” by Israeli vessels.
‘Lasers and assault weapons’
“Our boats were approached by military speedboats, self-identified as ‘Israel’, pointing lasers and semi-automatic assault weapons ordering participants to the front of the boats and to get on their hands and knees,” the organisation had said.
“Boat communications are being jammed and a SOS was issued.”
A Greek coastguard source told AFP it had responded to a distress signal from the flotilla, but once its patrol boat reached the area it was told that no assistance was required.
In the summer and autumn of 2025, a first voyage by the Global Sumud Flotilla across the Mediterranean towards Gaza drew worldwide attention.
The boats in that flotilla were intercepted by Israel off the coasts of Egypt and the Gaza Strip in early October.
The Israeli operation, described as illegal by the organisers and by Amnesty International, drew international condemnation.
Crew members, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, were arrested and then expelled by Israel.
Israel controls all entry points to Gaza. It has been accused by the United Nations and foreign NGOs of strangling the flow of goods into the territory, causing shortages since the start of the war in October 2023.
The Gaza Strip, governed by Hamas, has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007.
Throughout the war on the enclave, Israel has restricted the flow of goods into Gaza, causing shortages of food, water, medicine and fuel.
A fragile ceasefire was reached last October after two years of devastating conflict, where Israel has killeld over 72,000 Palestinians and devestated much of the enclave. However, Israel has continued to carry out daily demolitions and killings in the enclave.
