Israel intercepts Gaza-bound aid ship Handala

Source: CNN

Israel intercepts Gaza-bound aid ship Handala

Updated Jul 26, 2025, 6:46 PM ET
PUBLISHED Jul 26, 2025, 6:36 PM ET
By Max Saltman and
Abeer Salman

Israeli forces intercepted the Handala, a Gaza-bound ship carrying aid and activists, within 70 nautical miles of its intended destination on Saturday night.

“The occupation has disabled our cameras and all communication has been lost,” a spokesperson for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) told CNN in a message.

A YouTube livestream showed armed personnel boarding the ship, while the activists on the deck, all wearing life jackets, held their hands in the air in surrender. One of the helmeted personnel appears to manipulate the camera streaming on the deck, turning it around. The stream ended soon after that.

Israel’s foreign ministry confirmed in a statement on X that the “Israeli navy has stopped the vessel Navarn from illegally entering the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza,” using the Handala’s original name.

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Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2025/07/26/middleeast/israel-handala-gaza-aid-ship-intercepted-latam-intl