Jerusalem, 3 September, 2025 (TPS-IL) — The Israeli Navy carried out a drill in the Mediterranean Sea, the Israel Defense Forces announced on Wednesday, one day after a flotilla of boats hoping to break the naval blockade of Gaza left Spain, and as thousands of Israeli Reservists mobilized for an expected Gaza City offensive.
According to the IDF, the Navy and the Gaza Division’s Northern Brigade practiced “a variety of combat scenarios along the maritime border” and rehearsed emergency procedures across command posts to improve coordination between naval and ground forces two days earlier. The announcement did not link the exercise to the flotilla.
Israel has intercepted two such flotillas this year, in June and July, and deported Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg after she joined one of the efforts.
The new flotilla of aid boats set out from Barcelona on Monday evening after stormy weather forced an earlier departure back to port. Organizers said roughly 20 vessels with participants from 44 countries are involved, with more expected to join from across the Mediterranean. Open-source tracking sites showed the boats about 45 nautical miles from Barcelona on Tuesday.
Thunberg, who joined Monday’s flotilla, has sought repeatedly to reach Gaza’s waters. Israel has dismissed the flotillas as “propaganda stunts that serve Hamas.”
Israel and Egypt have maintained restrictions on Gaza to prevent weapons smuggling since Hamas seized control of the Strip in 2007. Since then, Palestinian activists have periodically launched flotillas to challenge the blockade. In 2011, an independent UN inquiry into the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident criticized Israeli forces for using excessive force but upheld the blockade’s legality.
The exercise also came against the backdrop of thousands of Israelis reporting for reserve duty on Tuesday ahead of an expected offensive in Gaza City, Hamas’s last stronghold in the Strip.
Approximately 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 48 remaining hostages, about 20 are believed to be alive.
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