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.
