When did Mare Nostrum become Mare Israelianum?
In antiquity and the classical period, the Romans did not use this term. The waters facing Palestine and the Land of Israel were named differently depending on the scale. Mare Nostrum (Our Sea) or Mare Internum were the general terms for the entire Mediterranean. Mare Syriacum was the most frequent technical-geographical name for the eastern portion, washing the shores of Syria and Judea, while Mare Phoeniceum was often used for the stretch slightly further north, along the Phoenician coast. And today? What allows Israel to believe it can claim ownership of the sea and attack the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters, like pirates on the high seas, in utter contempt of international law?
The leaked images of the boarding are harrowing. Off the Greek coast, not far from the island of Crete, around 9:30 PM CET, the fleet that departed from Sicily on Sunday, April 26, was surrounded as drones swarmed the area. Twenty-two of the Flotilla’s fifty-eight vessels were intercepted by Israeli naval units and assault boats. This was no routine inspection, but a military incursion against a fleet of civilians—doctors, journalists, and volunteers from around the world—sailing toward Palestine to break the siege and deliver humanitarian aid.
The Italian ship Bianca was among the first to be boarded. The crew and activists activated emergency procedures, gathering on deck to peacefully bear witness to their presence. The Israeli response was brutal: laser sights, drawn weapons, and the humiliating order to kneel at the bow under the constant surveillance of drones. After ripping out the engines and paralyzing the navigation systems, the military units vanished. What occurred transcends a simple act of force; it was a deliberate and conscious endangerment of human lives. Reduced to lifeless wrecks and stripped of all means of communication, the boats were intentionally left in the path of an approaching storm, unable to coordinate or call for rescue. According to latest reports and figures from Israeli media and humanitarian organizations, approximately 50 ships have been seized and hundreds of civilians are currently under arrest.
This action constitutes an unprecedented violation of European sovereignty. The blockade took place in international waters south of Crete, approximately 900 kilometers from its destination. According to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the high seas are a space of freedom where the exclusive jurisdiction of the flag state prevails. Striking an Italian ship in international waters is not a security operation; it is an act of aggression against the state whose flag it flies. Maria Elena Delia, spokesperson for Global Sumud Italy, describes it as an escalation that openly defies international treaties. The strategy is the same at sea as it is on land: destroy every means of subsistence and communication, then stand back and watch as “circumstances” complete the work of annihilation.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz justified the seizure by citing anti-terrorism laws, arguing that aid must pass exclusively through official controlled channels. However, the civilian nature of the vessels—laden with medicine and monitored by international observers—renders the necessity of such violent military intervention in international waters factually baseless.
The Farnesina (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs), immediately mobilized to seek information from Israel and protect the citizens on board, stated in a memo: “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has received information regarding an approach by Israeli military units toward the Flotilla boats that set sail in recent days for Gaza. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani has immediately requested the Crisis Unit, the Italian Embassy in Tel Aviv, and the Italian Embassy in Athens to obtain information from Israeli and Greek authorities to define the scope of the ongoing operation and allow the Italian Government to implement necessary actions to protect the Italian citizens on board.”
Recently, the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Rome has alleged the crimes of torture and kidnapping in an investigation regarding the treatment of Italian citizens involved in previous Flotilla expeditions. This marks the first time the Italian judiciary has leveled such grave charges against Israel.
Meanwhile, as the world’s gaze shifts toward new fires erupting in Lebanon and across the Middle East, the tragedy of Gaza risks sliding to the margins of media attention. Yet, what happens in open water is the exact reflection of what occurs amidst the rubble of the Strip and the streets of the West Bank: a war of occupation that has chosen civilians as its primary target. They continue to die every day, besieged by hunger, lack of hygiene, and a chronic crisis in healthcare.
Gaza has become the epicenter of a universal violation of human rights that threatens to become the new, terrible international norm. If the Mediterranean ceases to be a sea of law and becomes a territory of military oppression, the defeat will not belong to the Flotilla alone, but to the entire legal civilization of Europe.
