Gaza-bound flotilla ship takes detour as unidentified speedboat nears in high-risk waters

By Mohammad Sio

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Gaza-bound vessel Conscience took a brief detour early Wednesday after an unidentified speedboat approached in a high-risk maritime zone, raising concerns about a potential Israeli attack, according to the organizers of the flotilla it is part of.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said the Conscience adjusted its course “to reduce the risk of an Israeli attack” as it neared waters previously identified as a likely interception zone.

“At approximately 00:40, a speedboat with its tracker turned off passed the Thousand Madleens sailboats and moved rapidly in the direction of the Conscience, putting the crew on high alert,” the coalition said in a statement on the US social media company Instagram’s platform.

Israel’s Channel 13 said earlier that the Israeli military was preparing to attack the flotilla.

The latest humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza is now 150 nautical miles (277 kilometers) from its destination, its organizers said late Tuesday.

“Our flotilla is now within 150 nautical miles of Gaza’s coast, nearing the zone where earlier Freedom Flotilla Coalition and Global Sumud Flotilla missions faced attacks from Israel,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said in a statement on its official Telegram channel.

Around 100 people are on board the nine-boat convoy, part of the FFC’s “Thousand Madleens” mission to challenge the illegal Israeli siege on Gaza.

The FFC, established in 2010, has launched dozens of missions aimed at delivering aid and drawing global attention to the humanitarian crisis in the Israel-besieged Gaza Strip.

The latest convoy set sail after Israeli naval forces attacked and seized more than 40 boats sailing to Gaza last week to challenge the Israeli blockade and detained more than 450 activists on board.

Israel, as the occupying power, has previously attacked Gaza-bound ships, seized their cargo and deported the activists on board.

Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million people, for nearly 18 years and further tightened the siege in March, when it closed border crossings and blocked food and medicine deliveries, pushing the enclave into famine.

Since October 2023, Israeli bombardments have killed more than 67,100 Palestinians in the enclave, most of them women and children, and rendered it uninhabitable.