Israeli forces have begun intercepting ships with a Gaza-bound humanitarian aid flotilla off the coast of Cyprus. The Global Sumud Flotilla says Israeli military vessels intercepted the fleet in international waters, actions it condemned as “illegal acts of piracy.” Organizers of the flotilla said Israeli forces had intercepted 17 boats and that contact had been lost with nearly two dozen vessels in the eastern Mediterranean. The flotilla had been attempting to breach Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians. This is an activist aboard one of the aid ships.

Martina Comparelli: “We are being intercepted in broad daylight. The occupation forces have no shame whatsoever. They’re doing it in front of the whole world, because they know that everything they did in the past has been met with full impunity. This means that this is the moment to mobilize as much as we can to go into the streets and show that the people of the world are against their criminal acts. This is how far they’re willing to go to continue their genocide of the Palestinian people.”

More than 50 ships with the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail from the Turkish port city of Marmaris last week. Israeli media reported that Israel’s Navy will transfer the arrested activists to the Israeli port of Ashdod.