"We continue sailing to Gaza, approaching 120 nautical miles, close to the area where previous flotillas have been intercepted or attacked," the flotilla organizers said in a statement.
A post on the fleet's Instagram page, including a video, stated that an Israeli warship approached the fleet's boats, performed "dangerous maneuvers," and damaged their communications systems before departing.
The post shows what appears to be the shadow of a warship equipped with a mobile firing platform in close proximity to civilian vessels.
"We are not standing in the way of an ordinary person, but rather in the way of an (Israeli) army that is behaving in a completely irrational manner," one of the activists said in German.
Another activist said in English on Wednesday: "A difficult night for the Global Steadfastness Fleet."
She attributed this to the presence of "drones and warships, but without objection from the Israeli occupation forces."
She stressed that "the Global Steadfastness Flotilla continues sailing to Gaza. We demand a safe passage and the breaking of the siege."
Addressing the Israeli occupation army, the flotilla said in another tweet on Wednesday: "You can threaten, prevent, or intimidate, but you cannot prevent people from standing with Palestine. The movement continues."
On Wednesday, via the American platform Facebook, Wael Nawar, a member of the steering committee of the Maghreb Steadfastness Flotilla, a member of the global flotilla, announced that Israeli ships approached their vessels and jammed their electronic equipment before withdrawing.
Nawar considered the interception attempt "a test to see if the fleet would stop if its command ships were stopped."
At dawn on Wednesday, the Steadfastness Flotilla announced that it had entered a "high-risk zone" as it approached the Gaza coast, a reference to the area where Israel typically intercepts ships.
Israel did not comment on the attack, but said it would use any means to prevent ships from reaching Gaza, claiming its naval blockade of the territory is "legal."
Italy and Spain deployed naval vessels to accompany the fleet to assist with any rescue or humanitarian aid needs, but they stated that they would not intervene militarily. Turkish aircraft are also tracking the ships.
However, Italy said its navy would stop tracking the flotilla once it was within 150 nautical miles of Gaza.
A government source said that Spain informed the flotilla's participating parties that its rescue ship is in the vicinity to participate in rescue operations if necessary, but that it will not enter the Israeli exclusion zone because this would endanger the physical safety of its crew and the flotilla.
International organizations, including Amnesty International, called for protection for the "Resilience Flotilla," while the United Nations affirmed that any attack on it was "unacceptable."
Israel, the occupying power in Palestine, has previously carried out piracy against ships bound for Gaza, seizing them and deporting the activists on board.
This is the first time that more than50 ships have set sail together for Gaza, carrying 532 civil society activists from more than 45 countries.
On March 2, it tightened the blockade by closing all crossings into Gaza, preventing any food, medicine, or humanitarian aid from entering the Strip, plunging the Strip into famine despite the backlog of aid trucks at its borders.
Sometimes, Israel allows very limited aid into the country, which fails to meet the minimum needs of the starving and does not end the famine, especially since most trucks are robbed by gangs that the Gaza government claims Israel protects.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been committing genocide in Gaza, leaving 66,097 martyrs and 168,536 wounded, most of them children and women, and a famine that has claimed the lives of 442 Palestinians, including 147 children.
Israel has occupied Palestine and territories in Syria and Lebanon for decades, and refuses to withdraw from these areas and establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, along the pre-1967 borders.
