At the same time, the Trump administration condemned GSF, naming it a “pro-Hamas initiative and a baseless, counterproductive effort to undermine President Trump’s Peace Plan.”
The IDF’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) and its detention of the activists onboard were unlawful and a violation of international law, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a post to X/Twitter on Thursday night.
The Israel Navy boarded over 20 ships belonging to the Gaza-bound flotilla following its departure from Crete on Wednesday night, detaining 175 activists.
GSF later condemned the incident in a statement, calling it an act of piracy taking place far from Gaza in international waters.
Mamdani noted that several of the “unlawfully” detained New Yorkers, and that his “team has been in direct contact with State and Federal partners” to confirm their conditions and whereabouts.
“This is a brazen violation of international law,” he wrote in his post. “Those detained must be released.”
While Mamdani and other international voices praised the flotilla and condemned Israel’s decision to intercept it, the Trump administration condemned GSF itself, naming it a “pro-Hamas initiative and a baseless, counterproductive effort to undermine President Trump’s Peace Plan” in a Thursday statement from the State Department.
The State Department explained that GSF was organized by the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, specially designated as a terrorist organization in January for operating at Hamas’s behest, and that its founder has in the past “publicly expressed support for the Iranian regime and its terror proxies, including Hamas and Hezbollah.”
Further, the State Department urged its allies and those participating in US President Donald Trump’s Gaza peace deal to take action against “this meaningless political stunt by denying port access, docking, departure, and refueling to vessels participating in the flotilla."
Allies should also “deny[ing] berthing to vessels reasonably suspected of enabling terrorism or presenting security concerns.”
It slammed GSF for abusing “mechanisms designed to ensure humanitarian assistance is received by civilians.”
“The United States will explore using available tools to impose consequences on those who provide support to this pro-Hamas flotilla and support our allies’ legal actions against it,” the US concluded. “The flotilla has nothing to do with humanitarian aid or the welfare of Gazans.”
