The captured flotilla sailors could be seen sitting cross-legged under armed guard in a fenced-off warehouse area of the port of Ashdod, some with their passports out on the ground, as the far-right Israeli national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir berated them.
“There are the flotilla terrorists, they are terrorists,” Ben-Gvir declared in footage that was filmed and passed to an online news channel known for publishing content favourable to the Netanyahu government. “Look at them, supporters of murderers.” Before he could finish speaking, chants of “free Palestine” broke out.
Sixteen Irish citizens were among those detained by Israel as it halted the Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest-ever civilian attempt to break a 17-year naval blockade on Gaza campaigners say must end to allow food and aid to reach the embattled strip.
As lawyers who usually represent Palestinians in Israel arrived at the port to try to gain access to those detained and offer them representation, barely 30 kilometres away, in Gaza city, Israeli forces were intensifying their assault.
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Images showed premature babies being evacuated from the city’s Al Helou hospital to be brought south. The death toll rose by 63 in 24 hours to reach 66,288 people, according to the Gaza health ministry, while Unicef warned that the situation for mothers and newborns had “never been worse”.
The boats had failed to break the blockade, the last one intercepted hours from Gaza on Friday morning. But they had succeeded in focusing global attention on their effort and triggering mass international protests including a general strike in Italy, where 60,000 people marched through Rome.
The final hours of their sail had been dramatic, as one by one they were boarded by Israeli forces in images that were live-streamed on YouTube. Israeli marines, laden down with gear and guns, could be seen clambering aboard the small sailboats and approaching the waiting flotilla members with their weapons raised.
The activists on board expected the moment and had been practising daily drills to prepare for it, as organisers were determined to give the Israeli troops no reason to use violence, as happened with the fatal shooting of 10 passengers in the storming of the Mavi Marmara in 2010.
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The first to be intercepted was the lead boat, the Alma, which issued a radio warning to the rest of the fleet to “prepare to be intercepted”. The passengers knew what to do: throw their mobile phones overboard and sit together in non-threatening positions, their hands raised.
“We can see the lights ahead of us on the horizon. We are currently calm and getting prepared. Everybody is getting ready in case of interception, protocol activating,” Irish activist Catríona Graham said in a voice note sent from her boat Aurora shortly before contact was lost.
The detained activists are believed to have been transferred on to a large ship and then brought to Ashdod port. There were reports that participants could be brought to Ketziot prison, a vast detention centre in the Negev desert, to be processed for deportation.
“Procedures are under way to ... finalise the deportation of the participants,” Israel’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.
“Israel is keen to end this procedure as quickly as possible.”
Israeli officials have alleged that a person involved in purchasing boats for the flotilla has links to Hamas, a common accusation levelled at Palestinian activists, and distributed documents to media they claimed were found in Gaza City and prove a link.
Flotilla organisers have repeatedly denied such accusations, saying they are a peaceful humanitarian mission and have the right to deliver aid due to famine in the strip and an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal.
It will not be the last flotilla. Another group of nine boats is currently headed straight for Gaza in the waters between Egypt and Turkey, and would be due to arrive next week.
Irish author Naoise Dolan, on board the Milad, described a sense of urgency to keep sailing “as fast as we can” due to the continuing bombardment of Gaza, even while being aware that they were likely to be stopped by Israel.
“It’s rational to be aware that the probability is high but, like Gramsci said, optimism of the spirit, pessimism of the intellect,” Dolan said.
As global anger spread in response to the interception of the flotilla, a video began to spread online. It showed a procession of boats flying Turkish and Palestinian flags and carrying a banner reading “we stand with the Global Sumud Flotilla”.
The footage showed small open-top boats that appeared ill-prepared for a long sea journey, seemingly more of a protest procession at sea than an earnest attempt to reach Gaza.
Nevertheless, it was shared excitedly online by flotilla supporters as though it was, revealing the hope that underlies their actions: that with enough defiance, the blockade will become unenforceable, and will collapse as the Berlin Wall once did.
“This is not the end of our mission. Our determination to confront Israel’s atrocities and stand with the Palestinian people remains unshaken,” organisers said in a statement after the last flotilla boat, the Marinette, was intercepted. “We will not stop until the genocide ends.”
