A series of countries criticized Israel for its interception of an activist flotilla aiming to break the navy’s blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, as Israeli forces detained more than 400 activists sailing on 41 boats. The interceptions were carried out without injuries to any of the activists, who were said by Israel to be “safe and healthy.”
Pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel demonstrators blocked traffic and vandalized shops and restaurants in multiple cities worldwide after the interceptions, which mainly took place overnight Wednesday-Thursday.
Thousands of protesters took to the streets in Dublin, Paris, Berlin and Geneva to condemn Israel for enforcing its naval blockade on Gaza, designed to prevent Hamas from importing weapons and components to make them. The activists brought symbolic quantities of humanitarian aid for Gaza with them. Israel had encouraged them to dock in Israel, and said it would transfer the aid to Gaza, but they refused.
Colombia expelled all remaining Israeli diplomats from the country and canceled a trade deal with Israel, while Turkey called Israel’s detention of activists an “act of terrorism.” Hamas, the terror group that sparked the two-year war in Gaza by invading Israel on October 7, 2023, massacring 1,200 people and abducting 252 hostsages, condemned the interceptions as a “crime of piracy and maritime terrorism against civilians.” The Palestinian Authority also condemned the interceptions and detentions.
A rare note of criticism for the flotilla came from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has criticized the activists in recent days and had called for the flotilla to halt. She said the activism “brings no benefit to the Palestinian people.”
The flotilla had been sailing toward Gaza for weeks. By Thursday afternoon, the government said the interception had ended without incident. Israel is processing the detained activists, who will then be deported.
It was the largest flotilla this year to seek to break Israel’s blockade, but the IDF said the boats did not manage to breach Israeli-controlled waters. Israel has said the flotillas are “stunts” and “provocations.”
Israel has already faced concrete diplomatic consequences because of the interception.
Colombia, which broke off ties with Israel last year over its criticism of the war in Gaza, expelled the remaining four Israeli diplomats still in the country.
Writing on X, President Gustavo Petro announced the expulsion of “the entire diplomatic delegation of Israel” over what he called “a new international crime” by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
He also terminated a free-trade deal in force with Israel since 2020.
Colombia’s leader is one of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s most vocal critics, calling him “genocidal,” while also slamming US President Donald Trump as an “accomplice” to “genocide.” Last week, Petro attended a pro-Palestinian protest in New York, where he called on the US military to “disobey” Trump and encouraged his citizens to fight alongside Palestinians in Gaza. Washington revoked Petro’s visa over his remarks.
Spain, another outspoken critic of Israel, summoned Jerusalem’s top representative in Madrid on Thursday after the flotilla interception. Israel withdrew its ambassador to Madrid last year after Spain recognized a Palestinian state.
“Today I summoned the charge d’affaires here in Madrid,” Jose Manuel Albares told public broadcaster TVE, saying 65 Spaniards were traveling with the flotilla.
Belgium also summoned the Israeli ambassador, with Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot saying, “The manner in which they were boarded and the location in international waters are unacceptable.”
The statements came alongside widespread protests. In Barcelona, protesters smashed or spray-painted anti-Israel slogans on windows of stores and restaurants, including coffee chain Starbucks, hamburger franchise Burger King, and supermarket chain Carrefour, accusing them of complicity in Israel’s offensive in the Gaza Strip.
“These protests are the only thing we can do,” said Akram Azahomaras, who was among the marchers but said vandalism of stores was counterproductive.
“But doing it like this, I don’t think it’s right,” she added. “We need to do it peacefully, with our words, not with actions.”
In Istanbul, a crowd gathered outside the Israeli embassy holding aloft banners with slogans such as “Israel is massacring humanity, not Gaza / Do not be silent, do not sit, stand up.”
In Italy, students occupied universities, including Milan’s Statale and Rome’s La Sapienza, and blocked access to Bologna’s university using car tires, video footage showed. In Turin, hundreds of people blocked traffic on the city’s ring road, according to news agency reports. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and others were due to take part in a flash mob in Rome.
Italian unions have called for a general strike in support of the Gaza aid flotilla, with more than 100 marches or rallies expected across the country.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto criticized the disruption caused by some of the protesters. “Does anyone really believe that blocking a station, an airport, a motorway or destroying a shop in Italy will bring relief to the Palestinian people?” he wrote on X.
Crosetto’s criticism came alongside that of Meloni, who also said she would work to ensure the return of some 40 Italian flotilla activists to the country, including two Italian members of parliament and two Italian members of the European Parliament.
“Obviously, we will do everything we can to ensure these people can return to Italy as soon as possible,” Meloni told reporters. But, she added, “I continue to believe that all this brings no benefit to the Palestinian people.”
People protest in solidarity with a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid that was intercepted by Israeli forces, in front of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brasilia, Brazil, on October 2, 2025. (AP/Eraldo Peres)
That remark appeared to be something of an outlier. Statements of criticism of Israel, or concern for the activists, came from several other countries, including Brazil, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Turkey. Ankara promised “legal steps” against “the perpetrators of this attack.”
“The attack carried out by Israeli forces in international waters against the Global Sumud Flotilla, which set sail to deliver humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, constitutes an act of terrorism that gravely violates international law and endangers the lives of innocent civilians,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
“This assault, targeting civilians who were acting peacefully without resorting to violence, demonstrates that the fascist and militarist policies pursued by the genocidal Netanyahu government – which has condemned Gaza to famine – are not limited to Palestinians, but extend to all those who resist Israel’s oppression,” it added.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said, “I call on Israel to immediately release the South Africans abducted in international waters, and to release other nationals who have tried to reach Gaza with humanitarian aid.”
He said the interception “is contrary to international law and violates the sovereignty of every nation whose flag was flown on the dozens of vessels in the flotilla.”
The British Foreign Office said it was “very concerned” with the situation and was in touch with relatives of involved British nationals.
“The aid carried by the flotilla should be turned over to humanitarian organizations on the ground to be delivered safely into Gaza.”
The United Nations Human Rights Office said the interception widens Israel’s blockade of Gaza, which the UN considers illegal.
“As the occupying power, Israel must ensure food and medical supplies for the population to the fullest extent of the means available, or to agree to and facilitate impartial humanitarian relief schemes, delivered rapidly and without hindrance,” spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in an email to Reuters.
He also called on Israel to respect the rights of those in custody, including the right to challenge the legality of their detention.
Late on Wednesday, Hamas called the interception a “crime of piracy and maritime terrorism against civilians,” urging “all defenders of freedom in the world” to denounce it.
This interception “in international waters, as well as the arrest of activists and journalists” aboard the ships “constitutes a treacherous act of aggression… which adds to the dark record of crimes committed” by Israel, the terror group said in a statement.
The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry likewise condemned the interception of the flotilla as a violation of international law, asserting that Israel had neither authority nor sovereignty over Palestinian “territorial waters,” including those off the coast of the Gaza Strip.
Israel has come under huge international pressure over its war in Gaza. The war started on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Hamas is still holding 48 hostages.
The war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, with most of the population displaced.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 66,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it had killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.
Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools, and mosques.
