'Another provocation': Israeli Navy intercepts latest 'Global Sumud Flotilla' headed for Gaza off Cyprus

The Israeli Navy intercepted the latest flotilla of activists trying to break the naval blockade on the Gaza Strip on Monday, having captured just over half of the around 57 ships and detained some 250 activists by the evening, Israeli media reported.

The latest iteration of the “Global Sumud Flotilla” (GSF) was stopped and surrounded by Israeli navy ships off Cyprus, around 250 nautical miles from the coast of the Gaza Strip. A previous flotilla was stopped near Crete last month.

“Once again, a provocation for the sake of provocation: another so-called ‘humanitarian aid flotilla’ with no humanitarian aid... The purpose of this provocation is to serve Hamas, to divert attention from Hamas’s refusal to disarm, and to obstruct progress on President Trump’s peace plan,” the foreign ministry stated.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu received a briefing on the ongoing operation on Monday, praising the Navy for handling the latest flotilla that had caused significant concern in Israel due to the participation of numerous Turkish citizens, as well as two Turkish activist groups, one of them being designated as a terror organization.

So far, no aid has been found on their boats. https://t.co/HOZjaLuH65

— Oren Marmorstein (@OrenMarmorstein) May 18, 2026

Netanyahu told the sailors of the Israeli Navy Fleet 3 over the radio, “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.”

The activists are expected to be detained before most of them will be released to Cyprus.

The Gaza flotilla is claiming the IDF took over their radio and played “Oops!… I Did It Again.”

Which is, in fairness, an accurate description of the flotilla. pic.twitter.com/vv8KZ742q0

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) May 18, 2026

The prime minister stressed that the Israeli troops stopped the flotilla “quietly, and certainly with less prominence than our enemies expected.”

By the time of publication, there were no reports of violent resistance by the activists. An Israeli official had told Ynet News beforehand, “Our fighters are prepared for every scenario.”

“We will take control of them and bring them down to a floating jail,” the official said. “We know resistance to arrest is expected, and possibly also the use of edged weapons.”

Most of the concern was due to the participation of the Turkish “human rights organization” IHH, which is designated as a terror group by Israel and was behind the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla, in which 10 activists were killed by Israeli commandos after ambushing them on the ships.

Israel had reportedly asked the U.S. to request the Turkish government to stop the flotilla from leaving its shores, though to no avail. Turkey's foreign ministry on Monday condemned “the intervention by Israeli forces in international waters... which constitutes a new act of piracy.”

המשט לעזה: לוחמי שייטת 13 בהשתלטות לילית על הסירה "מונקי" בלב ים pic.twitter.com/6baztcRT8W

— איתי בלומנטל 🇮🇱 Itay Blumental (@ItayBlumental) May 18, 2026

According to the organizers, the around 319 activists who took part in the flotilla included some two dozen Turkish nationals, as well as Saif Abu Keshk and Brazilian citizen Thiago Avila, who took part in last month’s flotilla, before being detained for questioning over alleged “involvement in terrorism.” Upon their release, they joined the next flotilla.

Once again, the GSF claimed that the purpose of the flotilla was to carry food, baby formula and medical aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Israeli foreign ministry responded by noting that that the enclave is currently “flooded with aid.”

“Since October 2025 alone, more than 1.58 million tons of humanitarian aid and thousands of tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza,” the ministry stated.

The participants, which the GSF alleged were “illegally detained,” again included several prominent activists and dozens of citizens of Western nations, like Margaret Connolly, an Irish doctor and sister to the Irish President, Catherine Connolly.

President Connolly told reporters on Monday that she is “very worried about her, and I’m also very concerned about her colleagues on board.”

The Australian Foreign Ministry also said it was “urgently seeking” confirmation of the welfare of eleven detained Australians. “We will continue to make clear our expectation that any detainees receive humane treatment in line with international norms,” it said.

Among those detained was also Saad Edhi, the son of Pakistani social worker Faisal Edhi and grandson of humanitarian Abdul Sattar Edhi, nominated several times for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Pakistan on Tuesday shared a joint condemnation of Israel’s action, together with the foreign ministers of Turkey, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Libya, the Maldives, and Spain.