Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian activist on the Madleen "flotilla" which is sailing to the Gaza Strip, reported on Sunday that the ship's navigation and communications have been disrupted, which he believes is part of the Israeli preparation to intercept the vessel.
The activist said in a video that he has "received some very weird news that according to our tracker, we are no longer 162 nautical miles from Gaza, which is where we are, but according to it, we are in the Jordan airport. We know what that means when they start jamming our communications, when they start messing with our devices, it means that they are preparing for an interception or an attack."
He added: "We all heard the Israeli media saying that they confirmed that Unit S (Shayetet) 13 (Israel's naval commando unit) of IOF (Israel Occupation Forces) special forces are preparing to commit a warcrime, and we need to stop that, we can still stop that. I'm convinced that if we mobilize enough, if we pressure the nation states enough, we can make such pressure in the Zionist entity that they can not afford to attack us, to intercept us."
He concluded by calling on supporters to share the video: "We still have a chance to save this humanitarian aid, to preserve this boat, this mission, and ourselves, and we count on you right now.
The flotilla is expected to arrive at the shores of the Gaza Strip on Monday, led by far-left activists, including climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Earlier in the day, Defense Minister Israel Katz directed the IDF to prevent the vessel from reaching Gaza and to employ any operational means necessary to do so. The aim is to prevent a breach of the blockade, which Israel says is intended to stop weapons from reaching Hamas.
“Israel will not allow anyone to violate the naval blockade on Gaza, which is primarily aimed at preventing the transfer of weapons to Hamas — a murderous terrorist organization that is holding our hostages and committing war crimes,” Katz stated.
He added, “I have instructed the IDF to ensure that the ‘Madleen’ flotilla does not reach Gaza. To Greta the antisemite and her Hamas propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: turn around — you will not reach Gaza. Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or assist terrorist organizations — by sea, air, or land.”