Global Sumud Flotilla: Raid by Israeli forces on a humanitarian mission off Crete

The assaults, interceptions of vessels, seizures, abductions, enforced disappearances of activists, and damage inflicted by Israeli naval forces on the vessels of the humanitarian mission, as reported based on available information, constitute serious unlawful acts in international waters, as they undermine the internationally protected freedom of navigation and endanger human life, in breach of international maritime law obligations, including under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the 1974 SOLAS (Safety of Life at Sea) Convention and the 1979 SAR Convention.

It is a primary obligation of the Greek authorities to provide assistance to persons in distress within their Search and Rescue (SAR) zone and to conduct the necessary rescue operations to prevent risks to human life and ensure maritime safety, as well as to ensure that survivors are disembarked at a place of safety where their basic needs are met. While, according to available information, the vessels of the humanitarian mission had repeatedly issued distress signals (SOS), no rescue operation appears, at this stage, to have been undertaken by the Hellenic Coast Guard.

Humanitarian flotilla missions operate within the framework of international humanitarian law, under which vessels carrying humanitarian aid, when not participating in hostilities, retain protected status, as well as under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which guarantees freedom of navigation on the high seas. In conjunction with binding United Nations Security Council resolutions requiring the removal of obstacles to humanitarian assistance, such missions constitute legally grounded efforts to provide aid to civilian populations. It should be noted that the ongoing genocide in Gaza, alongside the blockade, which has been going on for almost 20 years, affecting the entire population, are prohibited under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the Hague Conventions and Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, as well as other instruments of humanitarian law.

The attack against the Global Sumud Flotilla by Israeli forces, 650 nautical miles from the Gaza Strip, off Crete, on the high seas and within the Greek SAR zone, constitutes a continuation of Israel's unlawful actions, in violation of international criminal law and international humanitarian law provisions concerning the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid and the prohibition of starvation of civilians. It also gravely infringes the fundamental human rights of the disappeared activists, including the right to life, the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment, the right to a fair trial, and the right to humane conditions of detention.

The Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, stress the obligation of the Greek authorities to carry out rescue operations and to ensure the protection of human life at sea. Greece cannot remain in a position of inaction. Silence or passivity in the face of such practices is not a neutral stance; it fosters impunity, weakens international law, and politically and institutionally exposes those states that choose not to act.

The signatory organisations urgently call on the Israeli authorities to guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical integrity and psychological well-being of all the peaceful activists arrested and to immediately and unconditionally release all those illegally detained. HLHR and the Observatory further urge the Israeli authorities to refrain from any further harassment or intimidation against human rights defenders, whether domestic or international, who seek to denounce the ongoing genocide in Gaza and to uphold the human rights of all Palestinians.

The signatory organisations call on the Greek government to act immediately: to seek full clarification from the Israeli authorities, to demand the safe release and protection of the members of the mission, to activate all available diplomatic and legal means, and to formally inform the competent international bodies of the incident that took place within Greece's Search and Rescue area of responsibility.

It further calls on the competent international and European bodies to intervene without delay to investigate the events, ensure the protection of the mission's members, and guarantee the respect of international law and international maritime law and the unimpeded provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population of Gaza.

Signatories

• Hellenic League for Human Rights (HLHR)
• International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
• World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders