TEHRAN – International fury erupted this week after Israeli naval commandos intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla — a 42-vessel convoy carrying volunteers and small consignments of food and medicine — detaining roughly 400–450 activists in a sweep that organizers and rights groups call unlawful.

Images of boardings and officers taking activists to Ashdod were followed within hours by demonstrations from Barcelona and Rome to Buenos Aires and Sydney.

Italy provided the most dramatic response: trade unions called a one-day general strike on October 3 that they say drew over two million people across more than 100 cities, shutting down services, blocking ports, and snarling transport as protesters demanded a total arms embargo on Israel and recognition for Palestine.

The strike — a sign of deep public anger at Rome’s reluctance to condemn Tel Aviv — ranged from peaceful family marches in Rome to clashes with police in Milan and Bologna.

Diplomatic pressure rose alongside street fury. Turkey announced a special flight carrying 137 deported activists to Istanbul; dozens more nationals remain in custody or are being processed for deportation.

Several European governments, including Switzerland, have protested restricted consular access after diplomats said Israeli authorities cut short visits to detainees held at Ketziot.

Activists who were detained describe a pattern of mistreatment: people zip-tied and forced to kneel for hours, delays or denials of water, medication, and legal counsel, sleep deprivation, and humiliating searches.

Organizers and some detainees say many have begun hunger strikes in protest; human rights organizations warn that obstructing legal and medical access violates basic standards.

All this unfolds against a grim backdrop: nearly 67,000 Palestinians have been killed, UN agencies confirm famine in Gaza, and many observers now call Israel’s campaign genocide. The catastrophe gave urgency to the Sumud Flotilla’s attempt to break the siege.

For many demonstrators, the seizure of vessels carrying aid crystallized a larger charge — that the blockade amounts to collective punishment and that governments who do nothing are complicit.

The flotilla episode has re-ignited a global campaign for concrete measures — from arms embargos to targeted sanctions — and it has left Israel politically exposed.