Just 150 nautical miles from the Gaza Strip, the Global Sumud Flotilla—comprising nearly 50 boats and humanitarian activists from 44 countries—sails under maximum alert following the official announcement that it will be intercepted by the Israeli navy. The mission, which seeks to deliver humanitarian aid and break the illegal siege on Gaza, represents, once again, the direct clash between international legality and Israel’s politics of force.
Invoking a doctrine of security, Israel claims the legitimacy of its blockade and the prerogative to intercept civilian convoys in international waters, despite the fact that this constitutes an explicit violation of maritime and humanitarian law as recognized by the United Nations and international customary law. The historical precedent is clear: previous flotillas have been boarded, detained, and forcibly towed, their crews subjected to arrest and, at times, violence.
The most serious aspect, however, is the silence and complicit paralysis of other countries. Diplomatic calls in support of the Sumud Flotilla amount to empty words in the face of the absence of concrete measures to protect the vessels, to demand that Israel respect international law, or even to send independent observers. The Turkish navy and the Red Crescent have emerged as the lone guarantors of assistance and protection, while Western powers look the other way.
Israel’s systematic violation of international law not only endangers activists and the population of Gaza but also exposes the crisis of legitimacy and authority of an international system that tolerates blockades, sieges, and violence against civilians under the pretext of an eternally invoked “security.” In the Mediterranean, the Sumud Flotilla documents its journey, denounces the blockade, and with every mile sailed, lays bare the scandal of a global community paralyzed and complicit in the suffering of the Palestinian people.
