UPDATED Gaza Latest & Video: The "Freedom Flotilla" Sails

UPDATE 2025 GMT: Confrontation looms as the flotilla is 75 miles off the Gazan coast. Three Israeli warships are moving to intercept the six ships of the flotilla; passengers and crew have put on lifejackets.

We will now carry LiveFeed from the flotilla. More updates are at WitnessGaza.

Gaza LiveFeed: Israel Warships Approach “Freedom Flotilla”
Gaza Latest: Israel Prepares Confrontation with “Freedom Flotilla”

UPDATE 1523 GMT: The flotilla can be followed by live stream video.


UPDATE 1252 GMT: A participant on one of the ships has just sent the message, "We have just started moving. On our way to Gaza as a flotilla of 6 vessels."

UPDATE 0845 GMT: Organisers say five ships left Cyprus at 0200 GMT and are expected to reach Gazan waters late on Sunday afternoon.

The Humanitarian Relief Foundation says the "Freedom Flotilla" ships carrying aid will arrive in Israeli territorial waters on Sunday morning. However, due to technical problems, only five of them are still sailing.



On Saturday morning, the Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, put out a message to  Israeli officials:

The meaning of the flotilla is that the entire world opposes the siege on the Gaza Strip, and if Israel behaves like pirates and sea-terrorists – --we will win.

It was reported that the Cypriot members of Parliament, the ones who had worked so hard to get activists permission to leave, were outraged. The Greek Cypriot members finally told them to go to the north of the island.



In Cyprus, organizers were trying to get two dozen would-be passengers, including 19 European legislators and an elderly Holocaust survivor, on the ships anchored in international waters off the island. Organizers then appealed to the Turkish government to get the group out via a Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus port. Turkish Cypriot officials have said they want to help the group as much as they can.

Elize Ernshire of the Free Gaza Movement said two of the seven boats in the humanitarian aid operation had been “tampered with”, forcing one to drop out and another to pull into port in Turkish-held northern Cyprus for repairs.

Haniyeh,joining the confrontation, He said:

This fleet indicates that Turkey ... is leading strategic changes in the region based on disconnecting itself from the Zionist enterprise and joining the Muslim nations.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Defense Forces set out the four-stage plan “Operation Sky Wind":

1. Warning stage: the navy will try to stop the ships from reaching a “line” dubbed as a red line, should the ships reach the designated line, they will be warned and informed that they “violate the law”.

2. Boarding and controlling the ships: should the ships fail to adhere to the demands of the navy, the navy will attack and control the ships carrying nearly 800 activists. The ships will then be taken to the port of Ashdod, and the activists will be detained in a huge tent.

3. Deportation by air: Israeli soldiers and policemen would order the detained activists to sign statements accepting to be deported to their countries, and will be deported by air via the Ben Gurion Airport.

4. Arrest before deportation: those who refuse to sign deportation statements, will be arrested, sent to medical examination, then transferred to the Nahshon Brigade which belongs to the Israeli Prison Administration before being sent to Be’er Sheva Prison and likely other prisons.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon reiterated that the military will not allow the ships to reach the Palestinian territory. He called the aid mission a provocation. Ayalon also wrote on his Facebook page:

There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. If the flotilla had a genuine humanitarian goal, then its organizers should have transferred something for the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit as well. Their refusal to do so clearly indicates that humanitarian issues were not their goal.

The parents of Shalit had asked the organizers of the “human rights” flotilla to take letters and packages for Gilad. The answer was no.

Away from the controversy over the Freedom Flotilla, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said during Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas's visit that they will build a hospital worth 20 billion rupiah (2.16 million dollars) in Gaza.

Gaza Latest: Israel Prepares Confrontation with "Freedom Flotilla"

On Saturday, seven ships from a "Freedom Flotilla", bringing aid, will try and reach Gaza. It will be met by at least 12 Israeli naval boats, helicopters, and a "counter-flotilla".

On Friday, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman denounced the flotilla:

The aid convoy is violent propaganda against Israel, and Israel will not allow its sovereignty to be threatened in any way, in any place - land, air or sea.

There is no humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. Despite Hamas' war crimes against Israeli citizens and the thousands of rockets fired at Israeli towns, Israel continues to respond in the most humane way possible.

Israel: “The Ideal State: A Dream-Country Without Criticism” (Levy)

Israeli gunships were ordered to take position to stop the convoy, and West Jerusalem made clear that it would overtake the ships as soon as they enter a 20-mile Israeli-controlled zone off Gaza. If the ships do not stop, Israel will attempt to connect the flotilla to naval boats and tow them to the Israeli port of Ashdod where the Israelis have prepared a detention centre. Those who do not want to take a flight back home will be taken to jail.


On Friday, Greta Berlin, one of the organizers of the effort, said a total of seven ships were headed to Gaza after an eighth vessel suffered a malfunction and had to turn back. Halting during darkness, they are expected to reach Israeli waters on Saturday.

The Israel Defense Forces responded that they will not hesitate to use limited force. The Turkish daily Hurriyet reports that the IDF will use a special technology to blackout media coverage in case of an operation.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Foreign Ministry Director General Yossi Gal held a round of explanatory calls with foreign ministers from countries whose citizens are participating in the flotilla. The Israeli message is that the activists are welcome to bring the humanitarian aid to the port of Ashdod, where it will be examined and, if found suitable, will be permitted to enter the Gaza Strip through land crossings. If the activists try to break the siege, they will be arrested.

The spokesman of the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, Umit Sonmez, said that the organisation does not trust Israeli officials who took the members of an earlier convoy into custody for 21 days for no reason. The HRF had written to Israeli officials regarding the planned journey to Gaza but had not received any reply.

Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, writing in Haaretz, assess:

The flotilla is not expected to alter in any substantial way the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. It is mostly a battle of public relations that is meant to strike a blow at Israel. Perhaps if Israel was less eager to confront the activists, some of the media attention would have dissipated. Had the flotilla been allowed in, Hamas would have its day, and the entire affair would evaporate quickly.

Haaretz's editors urged the Israeli Government to resume indirect talks with Hamas, to be more flexible about releasing prisoners and to lift the siege on Gaza. They argue  that blockade, siege, and military operations, with the hope that Gazans would topple Hamas, has failed: "The suffering that Israel is causing 1.5 million people for this purpose is not only inhuman, but extremely detrimental to Israel's status around the world".

The editors warn, "Even if Israel manages to prevent the flotilla from reaching Gaza, it will still have to contend with other demonstrations of support."