Gaza flotilla crew rejects Italian calls to turn back, Israeli navy says ‘We will stop you’

The flotilla is nearing the “critical zone,” and Israel’s navy has issued a stark warning that it will deal with violations against the blockade, which is permitted under international law.

By Yaakov Lapin, JNS and World Israel News Staff

Israel’s security forces, led by the elite Israel Navy Shayetet 13 Unit commandos, are preparing to intercept a large anti-Israel flotilla of dozens of boats heading for the Gaza Strip from the Mediterranean Sea after the crew rejected a request from Italy to abandon its mission.

The flotilla, called “Sumud” (Steadfastness in Arabic and a key tenet of Hamas’s jihadist strategy), is nearing the “critical zone,” and Israel’s navy has issued a stark warning that it will deal with violations against the blockade, which is permitted under international law.

Although the Sumud crew insists the mission is humanitarian, Israel views it as a direct provocation orchestrated and funded by Hamas.

In an explosive exposé released on Tuesday, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed captured Hamas documents establishing a direct link between the flotilla’s organizers and Hamas, revealing that the ships themselves are secretly owned by the terror group through a front company in Spain.

Th flotilla expected to arrive near Israel’s coast within days, potentially during Yom Kippur, and is reportedly being accompanied by Italian and Spanish naval vessels, which are there to provide rescue services if necessary to the flotilla participants.

The Italian defense ministry said on Tuesday that the country’s ships would stop following the flotilla once it gets within 150 nautical miles of the shore.

Vice Admiral (res.) Eliezer Marom, who served as commander of the Israel Navy from 2007 to 2011, told JNS on Tuesday that Israel’s legal standing to intercept the flotilla is unequivocal.

“Israel declared a maritime security blockade on Gaza at the end of 2009. This blockade is recognized in the world, in international law, and is in accordance with international law,” Marom stated. “Whoever violates this blockade, or wants to violate this blockade, and you warn him and tell him, ‘If you arrive, you may be harmed, and we will stop you,’ and he does not stop, then he is violating international law. You have all the authority to stop him.”

He assessed that the Italian and Spanish warships accompanying the flotilla are likely there for search-and-rescue purposes rather than military intervention. “I hope there will be no confrontation between the Italian and Spanish vessels and the Israeli Navy; it should not happen,” he said, adding that while there is always a potential for friction when warships operate in proximity, he believes the probability of a direct clash is low.

The presence of the European ships, he assessed, does not likely significantly alter the Israeli Navy’s operational planning. Marom also commented on the Navy’s broader, often under-reported, role in the current war, describing it as a “quiet force that is not characterized by public relations, but by action.”

He noted its extensive contributions both offensively—with precision strikes on land targets in Gaza by naval vessels and commando raids by Shayetet 13—and defensively, with its ships playing a key role in the national air defense forces effort to defend against missiles and UAVs from arenas like Yemen, with the navy taking part in air defenses form both the Mediterranean and the Red Seas.

In revealing that the flotilla leaders have direct ties to Hamas, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday listed the PCPA (Palestinian Conference for Palestinians Abroad), an organization that Israel designated as a terrorist entity in 2021 due to its being a wing of Hamas, as being tied to the initiative.

According to the ministry, the PCPA was established in 2018 and functions as Hamas’s representative body abroad, operating under civilian cover to mobilize actions against Israel, including violent demonstrations and sea flotillas.

The evidence, found by IDF troops inside Hamas outposts in Gaza, includes a 2021 letter signed by the head of Hamas’s Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, directly and explicitly endorsing the PCPA. A second captured document is a list of PCPA operatives, which includes high-ranking, well-known Hamas figures.

Among them are Zaher Birawi, who serves as the head of the PCPA’s Hamas sector in the UK and is a known leader of anti-Israel flotillas for the past 15 years, and Saif Abu Kashk, a PCPA operative in Spain. The ministry revealed that Abu Kashk is the CEO of Cyber Neptune, a front company in Spain that owns dozens of the ships participating in the “Sumud” flotilla.

“Thus,” the ministry stated, “these ships are secretly owned by Hamas.”

According to a report in Israel’s Mako news outlet, the Israeli defense establishment is preparing for a complex operation, recognizing that intercepting dozens of small vessels is a far greater challenge than dealing with a single ship.

The elite Shayetet 13 naval commandos are expected to lead the takeover operation, which will occur before the flotilla can enter Israel’s economic waters. The primary goal, according to the report, is to persuade as many participants as possible to agree to be voluntarily removed and deported from Israel. Those who refuse will be subject to arrest. The boats themselves will be confiscated, and some reportedly may even be sunk.