More Gaza-bound flotilla ships intercepted by Israeli forces

Israeli forces have intercepted additional aid boats bound for Gaza in international waters, the Global Sumud Flotilla said on Wednesday.

The Global Sumud Flotilla said in a statement that three boats - the Gaza Sunbirds, the Alaa Al-Najjar, and the Anas Al-Sharif - were intercepted 220km off the coast of Gaza in the morning.

An Israeli army helicopter also attacked another ship, the Conscience, carrying more than 90 people, including journalists and medics.

In a separate post on X, Global Sumud Flotilla said the crew of the boat Milad was also "intercepted".

The Israeli foreign ministry condemned the flotilla campaign as a "futile attempt" to "enter a combat zone", adding that the ships and passengers were transferred to an Israeli port and "should be expelled promptly".

The Global Sumud Flotilla said the boats were carrying "$110,000 worth of aid in the form of medicine, respiratory equipment, and nutrition supplies for Gaza hospitals, which are running out of supplies."

Last week, Israeli naval forces intercepted about 470 flotilla activists in international waters, taking them first to the port of Ashdod and then to Ketziot prison in the Negev desert, notorious for rampant sexual abuse and violence.

Activists have been attempting to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver aid to the famine-stricken territory, which has endured more than two years of bombardment that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians and left it largely in ruins.

Turkey’s foreign ministry on Wednesday condemned the Israeli intervention.

"The intervention in international waters against the Freedom Flotilla ... is an act of piracy," it said in a statement, calling it "an attack on civil activists, including Turkish citizens and members of parliament".