The mission’s organisers said two Israeli “warships” had approached fast and encircled two of the flotilla’s boats, Alma and Sirius. All navigation and communication devices went down in what one organiser on board, Thiago Ávila, described in a press conference as a “cyber attack”.
The flotilla appeared to have recovered some communications. Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Global Sumud Flotilla consists of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 people, among them parliamentarians, lawyers and activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The mission is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave to deliver food and medicine. It is currently within 120 nautical miles of Gaza’s coast, inside an area that Israel is policing to stop any boats approaching.
It expects to arrive on Thursday morning if not intercepted.
MNA
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