Israel intercepts 2nd Gaza aid flotilla in a week

What happened

Israel said its military Wednesday morning intercepted a flotilla of nine boats bound for Gaza with 145 activists aboard along with medical and food aid. Organizers of this latest attempt to break Israel’s 18-year naval blockade of Gaza called the detentions in international waters “arbitrary and unlawful.”

The interception came three days into high-stakes Israeli-Hamas peace talks in Egypt, and a week after Israel commandeered a 42-boat convoy headed to Gaza.

Who said what

“Another futile attempt to breach the legal naval blockade and enter a combat zone ended in nothing,” Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on social media today. Last week’s interception of the larger flotilla “drew widespread condemnation and sparked large protests in several major cities and a one-day strike across Italy,” The Associated Press said. Israel has already deported most of the 479 lawmakers and activists aboard, including Greta Thunberg, and some “described mistreatment at the hands of Israeli guards, claims that Israel denies.”

The aid flotillas aim to deliver much-needed supplies to Gaza or at least draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in the embattled Palestinian enclave. Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry says “at least 460 Palestinians have died from the effects of malnutrition since the start of the war,” the BBC said.

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What next?

The newly seized activists, doctors, politicians and Turkish lawmakers are “safe and in good health,” the Israeli government said, and are “expected to be deported promptly.” President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner are en route to join the Egypt peace talks today, and as “architects” of Trump’s 20-point peace plan, officials told The New York Times, their presence should “signal progress.”