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Israeli forces opened fire on at least two vessels in an aid flotilla sailing toward Gaza on Tuesday, according to video footage and flotilla organizers, but Israel said no live ammunition was used and there were no casualties.
Video from the flotilla’s livestream showed soldiers firing shots at two of the boats. The type of ammunition fired was not clear.
“At no point was live ammunition fired,” the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Following multiple warnings, non-lethal means were employed toward the vessel — not toward protesters — as a warning. No protesters were injured during this event,” it added, only referring to action against one vessel.
The Global Sumud Flotilla said on its website that 48 vessels had been intercepted, with some 400 people detained and two boats still sailing in the eastern Mediterranean.
Israeli forces have begun boarding vessels from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in international waters off Cyprus, organizers say. The Global Sumud Flotilla, an international movement heading the mission, says its fleet was ‘violently intercepted’ and its volunteers were ‘abducted’ by Israel. The storming of the vessels comes as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten Iran to secure a peace deal ending their war.
Israel’s foreign ministry had said on X on Monday that it “will not allow any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza.”
Speaking in Ankara late on Monday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan condemned the intervention against the “voyagers of hope” in the flotilla and called on the international community to act against Israel’s actions.
Ships from the Global Sumud Flotilla had set sail for a third time on Thursday from southern Turkey, after earlier attempts to deliver aid to Gaza were intercepted by Israel in international waters.
The group previously said there were 426 people taking part in the flotilla from 39 countries.
U.S. imposes sanctions on 4 activists
Israel’s foreign ministry has called on “all participants in this provocation to change course and turn back immediately.”
The U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions against European activists Saif Abu Keshek, Jaldia Abubakra Aueda, Hisham Abdallah Sulayman Abu Mahfuz and Mohammed Khatib, who were aboard the flotilla, which Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called “pro-terror.”
Pro-Palestinian activists say Israel and the U.S. wrongly conflate their advocacy for Palestinian rights as support for Hamas extremists.
Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching Gaza are still insufficient, despite a ceasefire reached in October that included guarantees of increased aid.
Most of Gaza’s more than two million people have been displaced, many now living in bombed-out homes and makeshift tents pitched on open ground, roadsides or atop the ruins of destroyed buildings.
Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its residents.
11 Canadians detained by Israeli authorities
The flotilla said Tuesday that hundreds of detained activists from more than 40 nations were “being forcibly transported” by an Israeli ship to an unnamed port.
More than a dozen Irish nationals were aboard the flotilla, including the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. Ireland’s Prime Minister Micheál Martin has called Israel’s interception of the boats in international waters “absolutely unacceptable.”
At least 11 of the 12 Canadians who were on boats taking part in the flotilla to Gaza have been detained by Israeli authorities, Global Sumud Canada told CBC News on Tuesday.
Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Thida Ith said the agency is aware of Canadians participating in the flotilla and that Israeli security forces “continue to intercept attempts to breach the naval blockade.”
“Consular officials continue to monitor the situation closely. They are in contact with local authorities and stand ready to provide consular assistance to Canadian citizens who request it,” Ith said in a statement to CBC News.
The flotilla said it demanded the “immediate, unconditional release of all our participants, alongside the more than 9,000 unjustly detained Palestinian political prisoners” and urged world leaders to press for the same.
The activist group also warned of “grave and immediate concerns” about the physical safety of activists detained following testimonies from others detained during an April 30 interdiction.
Those activists detailed “patterns of torture, severe physical abuse and invasive sexual violence” by Israeli forces, allegations Israel denies.
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