JERUSALEM: Israeli forces intercepted a Gaza-bound aid flotilla on Monday after it sailed from Turkey last week, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denouncing the mission as a &quot;malicious scheme&quot; intended to support Hamas. The Global Sumud Flotilla is the latest in a string of attempts by activists to breach Israel&#39;s blockade of the Palestinian territory, with the last convoy intercepted by Israeli forces only last month. &quot;Global Sumud Flotilla is under attack!&quot; the group wrote on X. It said &quot;military vessels are currently intercepting our fleet&quot; and Israeli forces &quot;boarding the first of our boats in broad daylight.&quot; A website tracking the flotilla&#39;s location showed several vessels being intercepted west of Cyprus. &quot;We demand safe passage for our legal, non-violent humanitarian mission. Governments must act now to stop these illegal acts or piracy meant to maintain Israel&#39;s genocidal siege on Gaza,&quot; they said. &quot;Normalization of the occupation&#39;s violence is a threat to us all.&quot; Netanyahu condemned the latest attempt to deliver aid to Gaza by sea. He told the commander of the interception force, &quot;I believe you are doing an extraordinary job... thwarting a malicious scheme designed to break the blockade we have imposed on Hamas terrorists in Gaza,&quot; according to a statement from his office. &quot;You are carrying this out with outstanding success... and certainly with far less fanfare than our enemies had anticipated,&quot; Netanyahu said. Earlier on Monday, the foreign ministry denounced the convoy as a provocation and vowed to prevent it from reaching Gaza. &quot;This time, two violent Turkish groups &mdash; Mavi Marmara and IHH, the latter designated as a terrorist organization &mdash; are part of the provocation,&quot; it said on X. &#39;Act of piracy&#39; Around 50 ships had departed from southwestern Turkey on Thursday. Ankara slammed the interception, saying it was a &quot;new act of piracy&quot; by Israel. Ties between Israel and Turkey have deteriorated since war on Gaza erupted. Activist Gorkem Duru, a member of the Turkey branch of the Global Sumud Flotilla group, who is not on board, told AFP that &quot;communication links with the ships were cut off&quot;. Activist Suayb Ordu, who was aboard one of the vessels, told Turkish channel NTV that the activists had &quot;no choice but to raise our hands and surrender peacefully without offering any resistance&quot;. &quot;We are not going there to fight or commit acts of violence; we are trying to prove the opposite to the world.&quot; The Israeli foreign ministry claimed the flotilla &#39;served&#39; the purposes of Hamas. Its aim was to &quot;serve Hamas, to divert attention from Hamas&#39;s refusal to disarm, and to obstruct progress on President Trump&#39;s peace plan,&quot; the ministry claimed. Under a Gaza ceasefire plan proposed by US President Donald Trump, which took effect in October, the territory is to be fully demilitarized, including through the disarmament of Hamas. Aid The Israeli ministry rejected claims that Gaza was facing aid shortages. &quot;The Gaza Strip is flooded with aid. Since October alone, more than 1.58 million tons of humanitarian aid and thousands of tons of medical supplies have entered Gaza,&quot; it said. Israel controls all entry points into Gaza, which has been under an Israeli blockade since 2007. Since Israel&#39;s war on Gaza, the territory has suffered severe shortages of food, medicine and other essential supplies, with Israel at times halting aid deliveries entirely. A previous flotilla attempt was intercepted last month in international waters off Greece, with most activists expelled to Europe. But Israeli forces arrested two of them &mdash; Spanish national of Palestinian origin Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila &mdash; and brought them to Israel for questioning. The pair were detained in a prison in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon before being deported several days later.

People raise V-signs and take photos from a boat decorated with Palestinian flags as another vessel displaying solidarity signs sails past near the port in Marmaris, Turkey, on May 14, 2026. (AFP)

Middle East

Israeli forces intercept a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says was an attempt to break the blockade on Gaza.

Israel PM confirms Gaza flotilla interception, says 'thwarting malicious scheme'

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: More than&nbsp;641,000&nbsp;people in Gaza are expected to face catastrophic food insecurity in 2025, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).As per the report published recently, the increase in hunger is due to ongoing Israeli blockade, economic instability, and climate shocks. This has pushed the region to one of the highest levels of food insecurity globally.Across 68 countries where WFP operates, 318 million people are projected to experience acute food insecurity in 2025, down from 343 million in 2024. However, this decrease reflects gaps in data from several countries, rather than a real reduction in hunger levels.In total, 41.1 million people in 51 countries are expected to face emergency or worse levels of acute food insecurity in 2025, including 38.7 million people in emergency conditions based on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC/CH) data, and 2.4 million people in severe conditions according to the CARI system. The report warned that these populations needed immediate assistance to prevent widespread malnutrition and death.Among those facing the most extreme hunger, Gaza is one of the hardest-hit areas. Along with Sudan (375,000 people), South Sudan (83,000), Yemen (41,000), Haiti (8,400 until June 2025), and Mali (2,600), Gaza remains in the grip of a catastrophic food security crisis.&nbsp;<table style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; width: 67%; margin-right: calc(33%);"><thead><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">Region/Country</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">Acute Food Insecurity (People)</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">Catastrophic Food Insecurity (People)</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Other Notes</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">Global Total</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">318 million (68 countries)</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">41.1 million (51 countries)</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Emergency or worse (IPC/CH Phase 4+)</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">Gaza/Palestine</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">N/A</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">641,000</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Catastrophic levels in Gaza</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">Sudan</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">N/A</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">375,000</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Catastrophic levels</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">South Sudan</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">N/A</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">83,000</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Catastrophic levels</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">Yemen</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">N/A</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">41,000</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Catastrophic levels</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">Haiti</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">N/A</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">8,400 (until June 2025)</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Catastrophic levels</td></tr><tr><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 15.7363%;">Mali</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 23.3314%;">N/A</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 25.8435%;">2,600</td><td style="border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0.75pt; width: 35.0555%;">Catastrophic levels</td></tr></tbody></table>&nbsp;In 2024, 343 million people in 74 countries were acutely food insecure, a sharp increase of 196 million since early 2020. The Global Report on Food Crises estimated that 295.3 million people were in food crisis or worse in 53 countries last year.&nbsp;

Africa

Report says hunger is rising due to Israel’s blockade, economic instability and climate shocks, while WFP projects 318 million people facing acute food insecurity in 2025.

Articles tagged with "israeli blockade"

Israel PM confirms Gaza flotilla interception, says 'thwarting malicious scheme'

Over 640,000 Gazans facing acute hunger crisis, WFP report warns

Israel PM confirms Gaza flotilla interception, says 'thwarting malicious scheme'