{"id":76845,"date":"2026-05-01T11:10:42","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?p=76845"},"modified":"2026-05-01T11:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T23:33:57","slug":"israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>More than 20 vessels were illegally boarded and harassed in international waters, 600 nautical miles from Gaza, by Israeli forces, who have detained 175 flotilla participants.<\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace, whose ship the <em>Arctic Sunrise<\/em> is sailing with flotilla, providing technical and operational maritime support, has written to the Foreign Minister Winston Peters this morning, urging him to immediately condemn the attack and demand the immediate release of people abducted by Israeli military last night, including New Zealand citizens.<\/p>\n\n<p>The governments of Italy and Turkey have already issued formal statements of condemnation regarding the interceptions and detentions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cBlocking aid and targeting those who attempt to deliver it are violations of international humanitarian law,\u201d says Executive Director of Greenpeace Aotearoa, Russel Norman.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cGreenpeace stands in solidarity with the people of Gaza and with the many brave individuals risking their freedom and safety aboard the flotilla. Humanitarian assistance must be respected and protected at all times and at all costs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cThe New Zealand Government must take concrete and immediate action to help end the genocide being inflicted by Israel on the people of Gaza. We continue to call on the Coalition Government to place immediate sanctions on Israel and take action to uphold international law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<p>The Israeli government continues to enforce a full blockade by land and sea of aid and food from international organisations.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>Greenpeace Aotearoa also called on the Foreign Minister this morning to demand that UN Member States provide guarantees for the safety of the flotilla in their endeavors to create a humanitarian corridor and take immediate action to support and protect the flotilla vessels currently sailing towards ports in Crete.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n<p>The organisation continues to call on the Coalition Government to bring in strong and comprehensive sanctions on Israel, similar to those imposed on Russia.<\/p>\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":76847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[15,43],"p4-page-type":[7],"class_list":["post-76845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-arctic-sunrise","tag-peace","p4-page-type-press-release"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.8 (Yoast SEO v26.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.\u00a0\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-30T23:10:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-30T23:33:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Russel Norman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Russel Norman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Russel Norman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/b3272dc0c88df0e5b71499441c63fe74\"},\"headline\":\"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-30T23:10:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-30T23:33:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/\"},\"wordCount\":319,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"GreenpeaceShips\",\"Peace\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Greenpeace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/\",\"name\":\"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-30T23:10:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-30T23:33:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/b3272dc0c88df0e5b71499441c63fe74\"},\"description\":\"Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.\u00a0\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Crew assist in towing a boat. The Arctic Sunrise has joined the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), who seeks to directly challenge Israel\u2019s ongoing blockade of aid to Gaza.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\",\"name\":\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\",\"description\":\"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/b3272dc0c88df0e5b71499441c63fe74\",\"name\":\"Russel Norman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLzuRNaOuQVAqkOBEoJQs5ZLT5HfcNDUuSpL9TVTuQSv6IKzKry=s96-c\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLzuRNaOuQVAqkOBEoJQs5ZLT5HfcNDUuSpL9TVTuQSv6IKzKry=s96-c\",\"caption\":\"Russel Norman\"},\"description\":\"Dr Russel Norman is the Executive Director of Greenpeace Aotearoa. Follow him on twitter.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org.nz\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/rnorman\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla","description":"Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.\u00a0","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla","og_description":"Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.\u00a0","og_url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/","og_site_name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz","article_published_time":"2026-04-30T23:10:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-30T23:33:57+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Russel Norman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_site":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Russel Norman","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/"},"author":{"name":"Russel Norman","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/b3272dc0c88df0e5b71499441c63fe74"},"headline":"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla","datePublished":"2026-04-30T23:10:42+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-30T23:33:57+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/"},"wordCount":319,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg","keywords":["GreenpeaceShips","Peace"],"articleSection":["Greenpeace"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/","name":"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg","datePublished":"2026-04-30T23:10:42+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-30T23:33:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/b3272dc0c88df0e5b71499441c63fe74"},"description":"Last night, Israeli forces attacked the peaceful civilian-led Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.\u00a0","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2026\/04\/2c807420-gp0su8qzi.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Crew assist in towing a boat. The Arctic Sunrise has joined the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), who seeks to directly challenge Israel\u2019s ongoing blockade of aid to Gaza."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/press-release\/israeli-forces-illegally-attack-peaceful-humanitarian-flotilla\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Israeli forces illegally attack peaceful humanitarian flotilla"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/","name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","description":"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/b3272dc0c88df0e5b71499441c63fe74","name":"Russel Norman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLzuRNaOuQVAqkOBEoJQs5ZLT5HfcNDUuSpL9TVTuQSv6IKzKry=s96-c","contentUrl":"https:\/\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/a\/ACg8ocLzuRNaOuQVAqkOBEoJQs5ZLT5HfcNDUuSpL9TVTuQSv6IKzKry=s96-c","caption":"Russel Norman"},"description":"Dr Russel Norman is the Executive Director of Greenpeace Aotearoa. Follow him on twitter.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org.nz"],"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/rnorman\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76845"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76855,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76845\/revisions\/76855"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76845"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=76845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}