Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country successfully intercepted and turned back a Gaza-bound fleet carrying activists, praising the country’s navy for the operation.In a post on Twitter on Thursday, Netanyahu praised the Israeli navy for stopping the ships before they could reach Gaza. He said, “Well done to our Navy! I instructed them to prevent the Hamas-backed fleet from reaching the shores of Gaza. The mission was carried out with complete success.”“No ships and no Hamas supporters reached our territory, not even in our territorial waters,” Netanyahu said. “They were deported and will return to their country of origin. Netanyahu said he will continue to watch Gaza on YouTube. The US State Department also supported Israel’s actions. “The United States condemns the Global Sumud Flotilla as a baseless, counterproductive stunt conducted by a sanctioned pro-Hamas entity,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said via a post on Twitter. Pigott said, “In contrast to the organized assistance mechanisms coordinated with regional partners because of POTUS’s peacekeeping plan, this flotilla bypasses mechanisms designed to ensure humanitarian assistance to civilians.” “Our allies must take decisive action against this stunt, and the participants must face any relevant legal consequences.”The peace board, established in January by US President Donald Trump, described Israel’s overnight blocking of a Gaza-bound flotilla as “love boat activism”, while pointing to its efforts to increase aid to the Strip since the October ceasefire.“Since the ceasefire last October, the Peace Board has significantly increased support for the people of Gaza. Food aid is reaching 3 times more people than before. Hamas aid theft has dropped from 90% to less than 1%. “According to the United Nations, nutrition has improved dramatically,” the board said via a post on Twitter.Israeli forces intercepted more than 20 boats from a fleet attempting to break Gaza’s naval blockade near the southern Greek island of Crete, with officials saying about 175 detained activists were to be flown to Greece.Activists aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla alleged that Israeli forces attacked their ships overnight in international waters, breaking engines and detaining some of them while they were sailing hundreds of miles from Gaza and Israel, as cited by the AP. The flotilla set sail from Barcelona earlier this month, with organizers saying more than 70 yachts and about 1,000 participants from around the world were expected, as additional ships joined the convoy en route to the Mediterranean.Flotilla organizers condemned Israel’s interception as “a dangerous and unprecedented escalation”, describing it in a news release as “the abduction of civilians in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, more than 600 miles from Gaza, in front of the world”.The interception was criticized by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who accused Israel of violating international law.“Israel is once again violating international law by attacking a civilian fleet in waters that do not belong to it,” Sanchez said in a post on Twitter.Iran also condemned the operation, with Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghai accusing Israel of “theft” by intercepting and detaining activists aboard the flotilla, according to comments made by the IRIB broadcaster.Baghai described Israel’s “attack” on the convoy as “a blow to the awakened conscience of humanity” and called for international pressure to ensure the release of the activists.A six-month-old ceasefire in Gaza has halted the most intense fighting in the Palestinian territory between Israeli forces and Hamas-led militants. However, violence continues at a low level, with more than 790 people reported killed in Israeli strikes since the ceasefire took effect, according to Gaza’s health ministry.Overall, the ministry says at least 72,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war began following the October 7 attacks.