ISRAELI naval forces boarded most of the vessels in the flotilla attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza today and detained dozens aboard, including European lawmakers, drawing widespread condemnation.

The Global Sumud Flotilla was the largest yet to try to break the blockade, and it comes at a time of growing international criticism of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, where its offensive has laid waste to wide swaths of territory and killed tens of thousands of people.

Activists said they hoped that the sheer number of boats would make it more difficult for Israeli authorities to intercept them all.

But Israel’s Foreign Ministry declared the operation over on Thursday afternoon.

Supporters of the flotilla took to the streets in several major cities late on Wednesday, after news of the interception broke — including in Rome, Istanbul, Athens, Greece, and Buenos Aires, Argentina — to decry the Israeli operation and the ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The flotilla, which started out with more than 40 boats and nearly 450 activists, was carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Its main goal, they said, remained “to break Israel’s illegal siege and end the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people.”

Israel’s Foreign Ministry dismissed it as a “provocation,” saying that various countries have offered to deliver the aid the boats were carrying.

The organisers of the flotilla said that at least 39 of their boats were intercepted or assumed to be intercepted by the Israelis.

Turkey, Colombia, Pakistan condemned Israel’s interception of the flotilla.

Turkey’s Foreign Ministry described the interceptions as an “act of terrorism” and Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry also called the interception a violation of international law.

Other nations, such as Italy, France and Poland said they were working with Israeli diplomatic authorities to ensure their citizens in the flotilla were deported home swiftly.

Italy’s far-right Premier Giorgia Meloni slammed Italian unions for calling a general strike.

She said: “I continue to believe that all this brings no benefit to the Palestinian people.”

Meanwhile, the death toll in Gaza continues to mount as Hamas continues to consider its response to President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 20-point “peace proposal.”

At least 45 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks today as Israel threatened tens of thousands remaining in Gaza City with a forced order to leave, saying it was their “last opportunity” to flee or face the “full force” of Israel’s assault.