IDF expected to intercept latest aid flotilla approaching Gaza – The Times of Israel
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
IDF expected to intercept latest aid flotilla approaching Gaza
A boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid supplies is approaching the Gaza Strip. Organizers said they anticipated an Israeli military interception before it can break the IDF’s maritime blockade of the besieged enclave. The Handala set sail from Sicily earlier this month, weeks after Israel intercepted a different vessel that made a high-profile attempt to break the blockade. According to several activists aboard the Handala, the group decided that it would begin a hunger strike immediately upon interception by the IDF. The previous ship launched by the Flotilla group, the Madleen, was intercepted by Israeli authorities on June 9, about 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) west of Gaza’“We are not interested in receiving any food or water [from Israel…] and certainly not in the ways that they use it for propaganda, while at the same time they are starving to death Palestinian children,” activist Huwaida Arraf said in a social media post on Friday.
The Handala set sail from Sicily earlier this month, weeks after Israel intercepted a different vessel that made a high-profile attempt to break the blockade.
Handala is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which also dispatched the previous boat, the Madleen, on a mission to challenge Israel’s blockade on the Strip.
Organizers said Handala was now around 100 nautical miles from Gaza’s shores, reportedly passing the point where the Israeli Navy intercepted the Madleen.
According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s website, the Handala is carrying 19 activists, including two Jewish-Americans and two French politicians, as well as two Al Jazeera journalists.
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The organization did not disclose the contents or quantity of the humanitarian aid aboard the ship.
According to several activists aboard the Handala, the group decided that it would begin a hunger strike immediately upon interception by the IDF.
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“If the Israeli military attacks our vessel and prevents us from getting to Gaza, we will go on hunger strike immediately,” Huwaida Arraf said in a social media post on Friday.
“We are not interested in receiving any food or water [from Israel…] and certainly not in the ways that they use it for propaganda, while at the same time they are starving to death Palestinian children,” she added.
Every member aboard the Handala Freedom Flotilla has pledged to go on hunger strike if Israel intercepts the ship. pic.twitter.com/gLutOKd06E — Handala (@handala0) July 26, 2025
The IDF, in response to a query about the ship, said it was “enforcing the maritime security blockade on the Gaza Strip and is prepared for a range of scenarios, which it will implement in accordance with the directives of the political echelon.”
The previous ship launched by the Flotilla group, the Madleen, was intercepted by Israeli authorities on June 9, about 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) west of Gaza’s coast, after it defied repeated warnings by Israel to turn around.
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Israel towed the boat to Ashdod Port and detained the 12 activists on board — including climate activist Greta Thunberg — before deporting them over the following days. Jerusalem, which described the venture as a publicity stunt, said the small amount of aid on that boat was then transferred to Gaza using approved overland channels.
Several other attempts have been made over the years to approach Gaza by sea, not all of which fared as well as the Madleen.
In May, a vessel dispatched by the Freedom Flotilla was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship. Israel did not comment on the incident.
Past attempts to break the blockade have also failed, most notably the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010, which saw Israeli commandos board a Turkish-led flotilla bound for Gaza. The violence that ensued when those aboard the ship attacked the soldiers resulted in the deaths of 10 activists and left a soldier badly wounded, sparking international condemnation and a severe diplomatic rift between Israel and Turkey.
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007 in a violent coup. Israel says it is necessary to limit Hamas’s ability to smuggle in arms with which to attack the Jewish state. Critics of the blockade say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Nearly 60,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
In recent weeks, as the humanitarian situation has deteriorated severely, the ministry says at least 56 people have died of causes related to malnutrition in Gaza, including 35 adults and 22 children. That’s up from 10 children who died from such causes during all five previous months of 2025, according to the ministry.
For their part, Israeli authorities continued to maintain on Friday that while the humanitarian situation in Gaza is difficult, there is no widespread famine.
Agencies contributed to this report.
Israel to airdrop aid into Gaza for 1st time, implement pauses for safe UN deliveries
The airdrop will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food. It would be the first time Israel airdrops aid into Gaza since the current war began. Israel Electric Corporation connected a power line from Israel to a desalination plant in the Strip’s south. The plant is expected to supply “approximately 20,000 cubic meters of water per day,” up from the 2,000 cubes supplied until now, to serve about 900,000 residents in the area. The military says it will continue to operate in the Gaza Strip to return all hostages and to defeat the Hamas terrorist organization.
It would be the first time Israel airdrops aid into Gaza since the current war began, after previously having only allowed other countries to carry out such operations.
In a statement, the IDF says that the airdrop is being conducted by the Israeli Air Force and Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, “in coordination with international aid organizations.”
“The airdrops will include seven pallets of aid containing flour, sugar, and canned food to be provided by international organizations,” the IDF says.
The military says that the airdrop is being carried out “in accordance with directives from the political echelon and following a situational assessment held this evening,” and is aimed at improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza and “refuting the false claim of deliberate starvation in the Gaza Strip.”
Additionally, the IDF says it was decided that “designated humanitarian corridors would be established to enable the safe movement of UN convoys delivering food and medicine to the population.”
“The IDF is prepared to implement humanitarian pauses in densely populated areas and will continue to operate to dismantle terrorist infrastructure and eliminate terrorists in the areas of activity,” it says.
According to the IDF and COGAT, over 250 trucks of aid were unloaded at the Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings with Gaza this week, joining hundreds more trucks waiting to be collected by the UN and other international groups. In all, some 600 trucks’ worth of aid were collected and distributed in Gaza this week, according to COGAT’s figures.
“The IDF, through COGAT, will continue coordinating with international organizations to collect the contents of hundreds of trucks that have not yet been collected,” the military says.
In another effort, the military and COGAT say that in the Israel Electric Corporation connected a power line from Israel to a desalination plant in the Strip’s south, which is is expected to supply “approximately 20,000 cubic meters of water per day, up from the 2,000 cubic meters supplied until now, to serve about 900,000 residents in the area.”
“The IDF emphasizes that there is no starvation in the Gaza Strip; this is a false campaign promoted by Hamas. Responsibility for food distribution to the population in Gaza lies with the UN and international aid organizations. Therefore, the UN and international organizations are expected to improve the effectiveness of aid distribution and to ensure that the aid does not reach Hamas,” the statement continues.
“The IDF emphasizes that combat operations have not ceased. We will continue to operate in the Gaza Strip to return all hostages and to defeat the Hamas terrorist organization, both above and below ground,” the military adds.
IDF expects Gaza flotilla within 24 hours, as it claims Israel downed navigation system
The group is carrying food, medicine and other supplies for Palestinians in need. It is the latest in a series of attempts by Israel to halt the flow of aid to the Gaza Strip. Israel’s prime minister has threatened to send in the army if the group doesn’t stop. The group is expected to arrive in Israel within 24 hours of its scheduled arrival time. The trip is part of a larger effort by the U.S. to halt aid to Palestinians in the Gaza strip, which has been under a U.N. mandate since Hamas took power in Gaza in 2007. The U.K. has also threatened to stop aid to Gaza if it doesn’t stop the aid flow, saying it will send in its own troops to protect the region from the threat of attack. The United States has said it will not allow any aid to be delivered to the region unless the situation is under control.
Israel will first attempt to instruct the ship to turn back. If this fails, a takeover will follow. “We will calmly take control of the ship, bring them to Israel, and deport them abroad that same night,” an Israeli official told the Post.
Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the IDF on Sunday not to allow Greta Thunberg’s flotilla to reach the shores of Gaza and to take any measures necessary to ensure that.
“I have instructed the IDF to act so that the ‘Madleen’ flotilla does not reach Gaza. To Greta the antisemite and her friends, I say clearly: you’d better turn back – because you will not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
Accompanying Thunberg on the flotilla are 11 other pro-Palestinian activists, all foreign nationals, including one diplomat. “This is not the 2010 Marmara incident in terms of scale or issues involved, but it is undoubtedly a politically explosive matter,” the official noted.
After the Defense Minister officially announced that the IDF would not allow the flotilla to reach the Gaza Strip, El Mayadeen reported that contact had been lost with the ship. The flotilla was last located in Egyptian territorial waters.
The ship’s passengers stated they would attempt to livestream the IDF’s takeover of the vessel. Throughout the day, they claimed the IDF was trying to disrupt their navigation systems. “Suddenly, our systems showed us in Jordan,” the passengers reported.
According to Thunberg, the mood on the ship remains “uplifting” despite full awareness of the danger and risks involved. “Standing idly by while a massacre unfolds is the real danger,” Thunberg declared during a press conference held on board. “We see ourselves as obligated to act, not merely to issue condemnations from the sidelines.”
The group is carrying supplies for Gazan Palestinians and protesting what they say is “Israel’s “illegal, decades-long blockade, and ongoing genocide” in the enclave.
Their voyage is operated by the pro-Palestinian nonprofit Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has staged other naval efforts to reach Gaza by sea over the last 15 years. The latest trip, which departed from Sicily and detoured to pick up Sudanese refugees, comes as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza turns 20 months old and includes Thunberg, one of the most prominent progressive activists in the world.
Why have the activists undertaken their voyage, and what are people saying about them?
The trip comes amid widespread criticism of Israel’s handling of aid to Gaza, where 2 million Palestinians live and where Israel has been fighting Hamas, the governing authority, since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “basic aid” to enter Gaza last month amid growing concerns about starvation following Israel’s months-long aid blockade. Since Netanyahu’s announcement, aid distribution in Gaza has faced multiple setbacks.
According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Madleen is carrying baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and children’s prosthetics.
London has so far rejected requests by Israel to deter the Madleen, which is flying under a UK flag, from approaching Israeli waters, according to the Times of Israel. Last month, the leaders of France and the United Kingdom issued statements condemning Israel’s blockade on aid to Gaza. They continued the offensive and vowed to take “concrete actions” if they continue.
Grace Gilson/JTA contributed to this report.
Israel at War Day 659 | IDF Says It Will Air-drop Aid Into Gaza, Create ‘Humanitarian Corridors’ for UN Convoys
Israel will enact a “humanitarian pause” in parts of Gaza on Sunday morning. The “pause” will be enacted “in civilian centers and in humanitarian corridors,” Israel says.
The “pause” will be enacted “in civilian centers and in humanitarian corridors to enable the distribution of aid supply. Israel has continued to facilitate the entry of aid trucks into the Gaza Strip,” the statement read.
It added that the UN has “failed so far to collect and distribute the large amount of aid trucks that are stored in designated areas inside of the Gaza Strip.”
The Foreign Ministry said it “rejects the false accusations of ‘starvation’ propaganda initiated by Hamas, which manipulates pictures of children suffering from terminal diseases.”