Israeli authorities are predictably lying about the violence their forces used against peaceful, unarmed civilians aboard the flotilla. In the final moments before Israeli forces disabled cameras and internet communications, livestream footage clearly shows Israeli commandos opening fire on at least two civilian vessels. While we cannot yet confirm the type of ammunition used, we know that at least three flotilla participants sustained non-life-threatening gunshot injuries, disproving Israel’s claim that it fired only at the vessels and not at civilians on board.
Livestream footage also shows Israeli forces deploying high-pressure water cannons against civilian vessels — a tactic the Israeli navy has long used to harass and endanger Palestinian fishers in Gaza. At least one flotilla vessel was deliberately rammed by an Israeli assault craft, while others were damaged and left adrift.
More than 400 volunteers from over 40 countries have now been forcibly detained after being unlawfully attacked and captured in international waters. Many have been held incommunicado for nearly 48 hours now. A source with direct knowledge of the situation described the unsanitary detention conditions, lack of adequate water and medical care, and exposure to cold temperatures. These abuses constitute serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law.
Israel’s assault on the flotilla and seizure of civilian vessels in international waters constitute grave violations of international law. The naval blockade imposed on Gaza is itself unlawful because it forms part of Israel’s ongoing collective punishment of the Palestinian civilian population and has contributed to mass starvation, deprivation, and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. International law does not permit a state to enforce an unlawful blockade through military attacks on civilians or humanitarian vessels in international waters. The targeting, boarding, damaging, and seizure of civilian ships are acts of unlawful aggression for which Israeli officials and military personnel must be held accountable.
We demand that all abducted volunteers be granted immediate access to their attorneys, medical care, and full consular access without delay. We call on governments to unequivocally condemn Israel’s acts of piracy, violence, and abuse against their nationals, and take immediate action to secure their release and safe passage home. But, consular assistance alone is not an adequate response to the unlawful abduction and mistreatment of civilians in international waters. States have an obligation to protect their citizens and to hold Israel accountable for egregious violations of international law and the fundamental rights of their nationals. Silence and inaction in the face of these attacks is complicity and only increases Israel’s sense of impunity — the very impunity that enabled the ongoing genocide in Gaza — and will lead to further Israeli violations, violence, and attacks on civilians.
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