'May Day! May Day! May Day!': Israeli Forces Intercept, Open Fire on Gaza Flotilla Activists

Israeli forces on Tuesday attacked and seized more vessels that were taking part in the latest Global Sumud Flotilla trying to break the illegal blockade of Gaza amid the ongoing genocide against the people of the besieged Palestinian territory.

Video posted by Global Sumud Flotilla shows Israeli forces in inflatable boats firing shots toward at least two GSF vessels, even as they are stopped and the activists aboard them have their hands held in the air in surrender. It is not clear what type of ammunition the Israelis fired in the attack, which occurred in international waters around 90-100 miles off the Gaza coast.

"This is an attack on humanity," reads the video's caption, which decried "Israeli violence against volunteers who sailed with compassion and love in their hearts."

"With hands in the air, participants implored, ‘Do not shoot,'" GSF said. "This is an attack on Gaza. This is an attack on humanity."

"The Israeli occupation has again illegally and violently intercepted our international fleet of humanitarian vessels and abducted our volunteers as they undertake a legitimate mission to break the illegal siege on Gaza and open a humanitarian corridor," GSF said after the latest seizures, which began Monday, as Common Dreams reported.

"This is what apartheid looks like: When those trying to save lives are met with bullets," the group continued. "When aid is blocked with brutality. When international law is made a mockery. Israel openly bragged that they would target based on race. We cannot stand by while this is normalized."

In another video posted by GSF, one member is seen talking into a ship's radio—at least one of which was apparently jammed by Israeli forces, who broadcast Britney Spears' 2000 hit "Oops!... I Did It Again" through their speakers.

"May Day! May Day! May Day! This is sailing vessel Zefiro... We are surrounded by military vessels, we are aware that other ships in our fleet have been boarded, and we expect further escalation of hostilities," the man says. "We are in international waters; we are suffering an act of piracy!"

GSF said that hundreds of activists from over 40 countries were "being forcibly transferred" to Israel, where past flotilla participants say they were physically and psychologically tortured by their captors.

In 2010, Israeli forces raided one of the first Gaza-bound flotillas, killing nine volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.

"States have an obligation to protect their citizens," GSF said Tuesday. "Flag states under whose jurisdiction our boats are registered have an obligation to protect those vessels and prosecute acts of piracy in their courts."

"We are outraged by the normalization of these violations of international maritime law and the kidnapping of peaceful civilians in international waters," GSF added. "We demand the immediate release of our participants, the safe passage of our entire fleet, and an end to the illegal siege of Gaza."

On Monday, Israeli forces reportedly seized 41 GSF vessels that set sail from Marmaris, Turkey last week. Among the activists reportedly abducted on Monday is Dr. Margaret Connolly, the sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. Ireland is one of nearly 20 nations that have formally joined South Africa's genocide case against Israel that is currently before the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

“It seems like this happened in international waters, and it’s a cause of worry, really, and I’m very proud of my sister, but I’m worried about her,” the president said Monday.

In stark contrast, the Trump administration on Tuesday announced US Treasury Department sanctions against four flotilla organizers.

More than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded in Gaza, including thousands who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble. Almost all of Gaza's approximately 2.1 million people have been forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened by Israel's war and siege since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023.

Palestinians are still starving in Gaza, as Israel's ongoing blockade—which began two decades ago—has resulted in a sharp decline in the number of humanitarian aid trucks entering the strip in recent months. The United Nations World Food Program recently said that at least 1.6 million people—or 77% of Gaza's population—are still "facing high levels of acute food insecurity," including more than 100,000 children and 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women.

GSF on Tuesday urged Palestine defenders around the world to contact their governments and demand the immediate release of flotilla members, condemnation of Israeli crimes and state terrorism, an end to Israeli impunity, and support for Palestinian liberation.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court—also in The Hague—for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, praised the Naval commander in charge of intercepting the flotilla.

“You are doing an outstanding job, both in the first flotilla and in this part as well, and are effectively thwarting a malicious plan intended to break the isolation we are imposing on Hamas terrorists in Gaza,” he said Monday. “You are doing this with great success, and I must say also, quietly, and certainly with less publicity than our enemies expected."

Israeli officials have repeatedly invoked the San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea—often shortened to the San Remo Manual—to justify the interception and seizure of flotilla vessels attempting to reach Gaza on the high seas.

However, Don Rothwell, professor of international law at the Australian National University, refuted the legitimacy of that claim, which applies to international war between sovereign states, given Palestine's lack of independence.

"There is no international armed conflict between Israel and the independent state of Palestine," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday. "As such, any attempt to enforce the blockade... has no legal basis under international law."