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LAST UPDATE | 30 Apr
ISRAEL’S FOREIGN MINISTER has said that activists who were detained after the IDF intercepted the latest civilian aid flotilla sailing for Gaza in international waters last night will be taken to Greece.
Organisers said 211 people were taken from the boats near the Greek island of Crete overnight.
Seven of those are Irish citizens. They are John Connellan, Michael Fix, Colm Byrne, Fiacc Ó Brolcháin, Martin Guilfoyle, Robert Murphy and Cat Graham.
The Irish contingent posted pre-recorded video messages from some of those taken on its Instagram account.
In a post on social media, Gideon Sa’ar said “all participants in the provocative flotilla who were taken off the vessels were taken off unharmed”.
“In coordination with the Greek government, the individuals transferred from the flotilla vessels to the Israeli vessel will be disembarked on a Greek beach in the coming hours. We thank the Greek government for its willingness to receive the flotilla participants,” he said.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has said officials in Dublin and at relevant embassies “are actively monitoring the situation regarding the Global Sumud Flotilla and are engaging with the relevant authorities”.
“We are aware of the interception of several ships and the detention of a number of Irish citizens. The Department will provide consular assistance to impacted Irish citizens,” a spokesperson said.
Video footage posted by the group last night showed activists receiving a radio communication from the Israeli military telling them to turn back or face being boarded.
Dr Margaret Connolly, a Sligo-based GP and the sister of President Catherine Connolly, is on board one of the boats and said today that the flotilla would press on despite last night’s events.
“We are a peaceful mission, we’ve done nothing wrong,” Margaret Connolly said in a video she posted last night.
@irelandforpeace Margaret Connolly during IOF interception flotilla
♬ original sound - IrelandforPeace🇵🇸
President Connolly briefly commented on the detention of the flotilla participants at the end of a speech about emigration that she gave today at the Global Irish Civic Forum, a government initiative aimed at connecting Ireland with the Irish diaspora.
“I couldn’t leave the stage without saying I’m very conscious of the arrests being made on the flotilla,” she said.
“I’ll leave my comments at that – the arrests that have been made of Irish citizens among a number of other citizens, and I say that in the context of a speech where most of our people left on ships in very bad conditions and now we’re in a situation where a flotilla of solidarity is in difficulty.”
In a statement, the Global Sumud Flotilla said at least 22 of its 58 boats “have been stormed by Israeli forces in a complete violation of international law”.
A Greek coastguard source told the AFP news agency it had responded to a distress signal from the flotilla, but once its patrol boat reached the area it was told that no assistance was required.
Tonight, the world is witnessing the export of the Israeli military’s doctrine of engineered abandonment. In a violent raid in international waters, Israeli naval forces have intercepted, boarded, and systematically disabled various boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
— Global Sumud Flotilla (@gbsumudflotilla) April 30, 2026
After… pic.twitter.com/lXFp6c0tzV
The activists said their communications were jammed, something that happened to the previous convoy of ships before being intercepted last autumn.
“Tonight, the world is witnessing the export of the Israeli military’s doctrine of engineered abandonment,” the group said in a social media post this morning.
“In a violent raid in international waters, Israeli naval forces have intercepted, boarded, and systematically disabled various boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla.”
Cormac O’Daly, a web developer from Killiney who is based in Vienna, Austria, who is on board on of the boats, told The Journal Israeli forces reportedly smashed the engines and navigation equipment on one vessel, before retreating and leaving it adrift.
O’Daly said some of the activists turned back to assist them.
Some boats were rammed during the interception, he said.
Despite last night’s events, he said those on board his boat – including Margaret Connolly – were in good spirits because they managed to evade the Israeli forces.
He said they had been “running the gauntlet” and had reached Greek territorial waters off the coast of Crete. There were two boats there when he spoke to The Journal, with the rest following.
The flotilla participants had already planned to stop at Crete to shelter from an incoming weather system.
O’Daly also said that Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Tánaiste Simon Harris “are putting our lives at risk by not holding Israel accountable”.
“They could shoot us in the fucking head and it would be business as usual between Ireland and Israel. Without our politicians holding Israel accountable, Israel knows they can do anything they want to us.”
Sinn Féin’s foreign affairs spokesperson Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire called the interception “another flagrant breach of international law by the rogue state of Israel” and called on the Irish government to “intervene immediately and do all they can to ensure that Irish citizens are protected and safeguarded”.
Social Democrats TD Patricia Stephenson said it was “absolutely outrageous” that Irish people have been detained by Israeli forces “in waters that it has no jurisdiction over”.
“This is another egregious breach of international law by Israel, which is tantamount to an act of piracy,” she said.
“Why do European leaders not have the courage to suspend the EU-Israel Association Agreement?” she asked, referring to the trade agreement between the EU and Israel.
Paris announced that 15 French nationals had been detained and Rome called for the immediate release of “all the unlawfully detained Italians”. News agency Ansa put the number at 24.
Rome and Berlin said in a joint statement that they were following developments “with deep concern”, while Madrid blasted the seizure and said it had summoned Israel’s charge d’affaires in Spain.
Spanish prime minister Pedro Sanchez accused Israel of “once again violating international law by attacking a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it”, urging the EU to freeze bilateral ties.
Amnesty International also condemned the “brazen interception”.
“The Israeli navy crossing hundreds of miles at sea just to ensure civilian boats carrying food, baby formula, and medical supplies don’t make it to Palestinians reveals the lengths Israel is prepared to go to in order to maintain its cruel and unlawful 19-year-long blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip,” Amnesty’s Erika Guevara Rosas, said in a statement.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for Palestine, said: “How on earth is (it) possible that Israel is allowed to assault and seize vessels in international waters just off Greece/Europe?”
ALARM!
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) April 30, 2026
How on earth is possible that Israel is allowed to assault and seize vessels in international waters just off Greece/Europe? Besides what you can think of Apartheid Israel and its genocidal leaders, this should send shock waves across Europe.
Apartheid without borders. https://t.co/OELJPX9Hf8
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the interception a “total success” and accused participants of being “Hamas supporters”.
He echoed an earlier statement by Israel’s foreign ministry, which said Hamas was the “driving force behind the flotilla provocation” and that it aimed to “sabotage President Trump’s peace plan transition to its second phase”.
The foreign ministry claimed it and the group established by Trump have “flooded” Gaza with aid and said the flotilla, which departed from Italy last weekend, “is nothing but a PR stunt “a provocation without humanitarian aid”.
Gaza has been devastated by Israel’s genocidal war that came after the Hamas-led attack of October 2023.
Most of the buildings in the strip of land along the Palestinian coast have been destroyed or partially destroyed, and Israel has continued to kill people in Gaza despite a nominal ceasefire with Hamas, adding to the death toll of more than 75,000.
According to the World Food Programme, at least 1.6 million people (77% of the population) in Gaza are facing high levels of acute food insecurity.
“This includes over 100,000 children and 37,000 pregnant and breastfeeding women projected to suffer acute malnutrition through to April 2026,” the UN organisation says.
Flotillas have attempted to bring food and other essential supplies to Gaza before. The last one was intercepted by Israeli forces in October 2025 and 15 Irish people were among those detained in Israel.
With reporting from AFP
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