Israeli occupation forces (IOF), on Friday, attacked the last ship of the international Fleet of Steadfastness and seized it while it was sailing in international waters, 42.5 nautical miles (68 km) off the coast of Gaza. The vessel was carrying humanitarian aid and international volunteers seeking to break the blockade imposed on the Strip for the past 18 years.
A live broadcast from aboard the Marinet captured the moments when occupation forces stormed the ship, in a scene reflecting an act of maritime piracy in direct violation of the Law of the Sea and the principle of freedom of navigation.
With this, the occupation has intercepted all 42 ships of the fleet within 38 hours, arresting 470 international activists, including doctors, parliamentarians, and public figures. Hundreds were transferred to detention centres after being searched and interrogated.
The interception of these vessels carrying humanitarian relief constitutes a clear breach of international humanitarian law, which imposes an absolute obligation to guarantee the delivery of food and medicine to civilians in times of conflict. It also amounts to a crime of systematic starvation used as a weapon of war.
Moreover, this interception forms part of a wider policy aimed at depriving civilians of the essentials of life, reinforcing the description of what is taking place in Gaza as a systematic genocide—where direct killing is combined with siege and starvation.
Since 7 October 2023, the Gaza Strip has been subjected to a war of extermination that has resulted in 66,225 deaths and 168,938 injuries, most of them women and children, in addition to the deaths of 455 people, including 151 children, due to famine.
The continuation of these violations amid widespread global silence only increases their gravity. International law does not merely criminalise acts of genocide and war crimes; it also places responsibility on states and the international community to intervene in order to prevent and stop them.
Ignoring these crimes places the world before a stark moral and legal test: either to take serious action to stop the crimes of the occupation and protect civilians in Gaza, or to be complicit through silence in the policy of genocide being carried out in full view of all.
