The Israeli army seized around 40 of the more than 50 vessels participating in the Gaza-bound Global Sumud flotilla on Tuesday, Israeli media reported.

According to Israeli news website Walla, the army also detained around 300 activists, an unnamed security source told the publication.

Walla added that the Israeli navy had not yet intercepted all the flotilla vessels and that several boats remained in the open sea.

The Israeli army launched the attack on the flotilla carrying humanitarian aid in international waters on Monday, prompting widespread international condemnation.

With the participation of 54 boats, the flotilla sailed on Thursday from the Turkish district of Marmaris in a renewed attempt to break the illegal Israeli blockade imposed on Gaza since 2007.

This is not the first such incident involving the flotilla.

In late April, the Israeli army attacked flotilla boats in international waters off the Greek island of Crete. The convoy at the time included 345 participants from 39 countries, among them Turkish citizens.

Israeli forces then seized 21 boats carrying around 175 activists, while the remaining vessels continued towards Greek territorial waters.

Israeli forces later released the activists in international waters except for two — a Spanish and a Brazilian activist — who were taken to detention centres inside Israel before being deported later.

Around 2.4 million Palestinians, including approximately 1.5 million displaced people, are living under catastrophic humanitarian conditions in Gaza, worsened by a two-year Israeli genocide that has killed more than 72,700 people and wounded over 172,700, most of them women and children, in addition to triggering severe famine conditions.

Despite a ceasefire announced in October 2025, Israel has continued restricting humanitarian aid access and carrying out daily strikes, resulting in the deaths of 877 Palestinians and injuries to 2,602 others, according to local authorities.