Civil Resistance to an Unlawful Blockade, Humanitarian
Access, and Accountability under International Law
This report examines the unlawfulness of Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza and the attacks launched against the Global Sumud Flotilla and its participants in October 2025. It demonstrates that military interventions against humanitarian vessels on the high seas cannot be dismissed as isolated maritime security measures. Instead, these actions are exposed as an integral part of an institutionalised regime of impunity, intertwined with the unlawful occupation of Palestine, the illegal siege, and the deliberate policies of forced starvation and deprivation enforced against the Palestinian population in Gaza.
The study is structured into three comprehensive chapters. The first establishes the illegality of the blockade through three interconnected frameworks: the genocidal nature of forced starvation under the Genocide Convention and ICJ jurisprudence; starvation as a war crime within the Rome Statute and the law of armed conflict; and the absolute prohibition on starving civilians or obstructing humanitarian aid under international humanitarian law governing naval blockades. The second chapter evaluates the Flotilla’s entitlement to the freedom of navigation, as well as the rights of innocent and humanitarian passage, under UNCLOS, the San Remo Manual, and customary international law. The final chapter addresses the critical issues of accountability, jurisdiction, and remedies, tackling individual criminal liability, State responsibility, and the ongoing structural impunity surrounding these crimes.
Our findings yield three definitive conclusions. Firstly, the Flotilla’s mission is strictly lawful, humanitarian, and civilian, meaning its vessels and passengers are entitled to full legal protection while exercising their rights to free, innocent, and humanitarian passage. Secondly, Israel’s naval blockade is fundamentally unlawful in its purpose, nature, and consequences; it constitutes a mechanism of collective punishment that triggers clear liability under international humanitarian, criminal, and human rights law. Lastly, the assaults on the Flotilla—including the unlawful seizure of vessels, the detention and ill-treatment of participants, and the obstruction of aid—amount to acts of aggression against flag States and severe breaches of non-derogable rights, constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity. These acts are a direct extension of the broader genocidal campaign against the Palestinian population in Gaza, invoking the legal accountability not only of Israel, but of all third States that participate in, facilitate, or contribute to the continuation of these violations.
