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Does Israel Have the Legal Right to Intercept the New Gaza Flotilla?

(Times of Israel) Jeremy Sharon - Is Israel entitled to intercept the latest Gaza flotilla? Israel officially declared a naval blockade on Gaza in 2009 as part of an effort to restrict Hamas's ability to smuggle in weapons and war materiel, and has enforced the blockade ever since. Naval blockades are a very common military practice. They are permitted under the San Remo Manual on naval warfare, a widely accepted codification of the laws of naval warfare, as well as under the London Declaration of 1909. A report issued by a panel of inquiry into the Mavi Marmara incident established by the UN Secretary General in September 2011 determined that Israel's blockade on Gaza was legal and "a legitimate exercise of the right of self-defense." Moreover, the amount of aid being brought by the flotilla represents a tiny fraction of the amount of aid currently being delivered through Israel's border crossings with Gaza every week. Between Sep. 14 and Sep. 19, 2025, 736 humanitarian aid trucks entered Gaza bearing 14,125 tons of aid, 86% of which was food. The San Remo Manual states explicitly that merchant vessels "believed on reasonable grounds to be breaching a blockade" may be captured, and that such vessels resisting capture can even be attacked after being warned. Since it is the explicit aim of the current flotilla to breach Israel's naval blockade, it would appear that Israel is within its rights to intercept it. Capturing ships that openly declare their intention to break the blockade can be done on the high seas, meaning outside of territorial waters, and is permitted under international law, said Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer, former head of the International Law Department of the IDF's Military Advocate General's Corps. "If they provide a statement that they intend to breach, that is enough, and [interception] can be done on the high seas."
2025-09-25 00:00:00
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