Boats carrying humanitarian aid and activists to Gaza leave Barcelona, Spain, on April 12, 2026. [Joan Mateu Parra/Associated Press]
Opposition parties on Thursday took the conservative government to task after Israeli forces off the southern island of Crete overnight intercepted a flotilla of small boats carrying activists and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Main opposition Socialist PASOK shadow foreign minister Dimitris Mandzos described the Israeli move as “a new severe breach of international maritime law and the freedom of navigation.”
Dozens of boats from the Global Sumud Flotilla set off from Barcelona, in Spain, this month – less than a year after Israeli authorities foiled another effort by the activist group to reach Gaza.
Activists said they were intercepted in “a dangerous and unprecedented escalation” some 600 miles from Gaza, and Israel’s Foreign Ministry said it was taking about 175 passengers from more than 20 boats to Israel.
The group indicated that 22 vessels had been intercepted in international waters west of Crete, and 36 others were still sailing Thursday.
PASOK’s Mandzos pressed the government to reveal the precise spot where the Israeli attack took place and to specify whether it lay within the area where Greece has responsibility for search and rescue operations.
“Had the Greek government been informed about the Israeli vessels’ act?” he asked. “What was the role and the response in the field of Greek authorities? What actions does the Greek government propose to take against this illegal move?”
The Greek Communist Party, or KKE, also denounced what it called Israel’s “act of piracy” and urged the government to reveal whether it had advance knowledge of the Israeli action.