Protests have broken out across Europe after Israeli military personnel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver medicine and food to the Gaza Strip, boarding multiple vessels.
The Israeli military operation was announced by both the flotilla itself and the Israeli foreign ministry.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of more than 40 civilian boats and carrying 500 activists, legislators, and a symbolic amount of aid, was intercepted by the Israeli navy around 110km from the Gaza coast in the early hours of Thursday AEST.
"Multiple vessels ... were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli Occupation Forces in international waters," the organisers said in a statement.
"We are diligently working to account for all participants and crew."
It said its communications were jammed before boarding started, which interfered with cameras providing live streams from various boats and communications between vessels.
At least six of the flotilla's ships were intercepted: the Sirus, Alma, Spectra, Hoga, Adara, and Deir Yassin.
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was escorted off the Alma ship and taken into custody.
The Israeli foreign ministry posted a video on X showing Thunberg's arrest with the caption: "Already several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port. Greta and her friends are safe and healthy."
Several activists posted pre-recorded videos to social media, in which they said they had been "kidnapped" by the Israeli military.
Multiple Australians are part of the flotilla, including Juliet Lamont, who described her experience as Israel started intercepting some boats.
"I can feel that my heart is going, like the clappers, and I should be feeling, normally your body gives yourself those signals, so you should be freaking out," Lamont told ABC's RN Breakfast.
"But I feel remarkable, Calm. I've never been intercepted," she said.
Lamont said the flotilla's members had "the knowledge that we're doing the right thing, and that's a really fortifying and kind of a beautiful thing".
"The collective decision with the flotilla is we would go ahead regardless, that we are not going to bow and cower to their demands because this is not an illegal thing. To deliver humanitarian aid to a country that is suffering a genocide is not an illegal thing to do," she said.
World reacts to Israel's interception
Protests have broken out in Brussels, Berlin, Athens, Rome and Tunis overnight in response to the Israeli intervention against the flotilla.
In Berlin, protesters swarmed the Berlin Central Station and chanted slogans like "Free Palestine".
Demonstrators protest in solidarity with the Palestinian people and over Israel's navy intervention against the Global Sumud Flotilla outside the foreign affairs ministry, in Athens, Greece. Source: AAP / EPA / Orestis Panagiotou
Italian unions called a general strike for Friday in solidarity with the flotilla, prompting Italy's far-right deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini to threaten compulsory employment measures in response.
Irish political party Sinn Féin said senator Chris Andrews, who was on board the flotilla, had been "illegally detained" by the Israeli military.
Ireland's foreign affairs minister Simon Harris said on X the reports were "very concerning" and that they were closely monitoring the situation.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that a free trade agreement with Israel would be terminated, and said Israeli diplomats in Colombia would be expelled.
Petro, an opponent of the Gaza war, said two Colombian nationals participating in the flotilla were detained by Israel.
"If the information is true, this is a new international crime by [Benjamin] Netanyahu," Petro wrote on X. "The foreign ministry should make all the respective demands, including within the Israeli justice system."
Amnesty International United Kingdom called on UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to denounce Israel's actions.
"Reports that Israeli forces have intercepted the Gaza flotilla mark yet another shameful chapter in the brutal and merciless enforcement of Israel's illegal and immoral 18-year blockade of Gaza and is an attack on international law and basic humanity," said Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK's director of communications.
"Keir Starmer has a serious role to play. With British citizens and British-flagged ships involved, he must not revert to silence as usual."
A live video feed from one of the boats in the flotilla showed passengers in life vests sitting on deck.
Organisers remained defiant, saying in the statement that the flotilla "will continue undeterred".
The Israeli military did not respond to a request for comment regarding the interception of the vessels.
The Israeli foreign ministry earlier said its navy had reached out to the flotilla to warn it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked them to change course.
The ministry said it reiterated its offer to transfer aid peacefully through safe channels to the Gaza Strip.
It is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel's blockade of the enclave, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war. The flotilla was hoping to arrive in the Gaza Strip later on Thursday.
Thursday's incident is the second time the flotilla has been approached in 24 hours.
The mission's organisers earlier said two Israeli "warships" had approached fast and encircled two of the flotilla's boats.
All navigation and communication devices went down in what one organiser on board described as a "cyber attack".
A video post on the flotilla's Instagram page showed the silhouette of what appeared to be a military vessel with a gun turret near the civilian boats.
Reuters confirmed the video was filmed from the flotilla but could not confirm the identity of the other vessel in the video or when it was taken.
Last week, the flotilla was attacked by drones, which dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels, causing damage but no injuries.
Israel did not comment on that attack but has said it will use any means to prevent the boats from reaching the Gaza Strip, arguing that its naval blockade is legal as it battles Hamas militants in the coastal enclave.
Italy and Spain deployed naval ships to help with any rescue or humanitarian needs, but stopped following the flotilla once it got within 278km of the Strip for safety reasons.
— With additional reporting by Reuters.
