KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia vowed on Thursday to take legal action against Israel after some 200 international activists, including Malaysian citizens, were abducted at sea as they carried aid for Gaza aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla.
The GSF mission, which involved representatives from 45 countries, carried over 400 people, including 34 Malaysians. It was scheduled to arrive at Gaza’s coast on Thursday afternoon, but the journey was disrupted after several vessels were intercepted by the Israeli navy.
Malaysia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that 12 citizens were taken in international waters while carrying lifesaving aid to Gaza and demanded their immediate and unconditional release.
It said that “the criminal and cowardly acts of aggression by Israeli forces against the Global Sumud Flotilla” constituted a “flagrant violation of international law, including international maritime law, international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”
Hours later, more Malaysians, who were aboard other boats, lost contact with their mission’s organizer, the Sumud Nusantara Command Center in Kuala Lumpur.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in a series of X posts that 23 were missing and that he would take “all lawful and legally grounded measures to hold the Zionist regime accountable.”
Among the Malaysian nationals held by the Israeli military are popular singer Zizi Kirana and actress Ardell Aryana, who shared voice notes describing how Israelis tried to stop her boat by using water cannons.
“At first, they came in small groups and they gave a warning to stop, but we did not stop because our mission is to go straight to Gaza,” she said.
The capture of the flotilla crew has sent a wave of outrage across the country, where the mission to break Israel’s illegal blockade and starvation of Gaza is supported by both the government and the public.
Lavisha Sukumaran, a lawyer, recalled a video shared by a flotilla participant talking about how he was doing this for his children.
“He doesn’t want them to grow up in a world where people turn their backs on each other,” she said.
“It’s easy to talk about it, make social media posts about the genocide, participate in rallies, and all that. It takes a different kind of bravery to actually get to the group, risk your actual life, in hopes of making a change. It is so amazing and terrifying.”
For Dina Sallehudin, a content creator, the activists are “the bravest and kindest people, who are willing to risk their lives to make this mission happen.”
Some, like Ili Liyana Mokhtar, an editor, expected more action from the Malaysian government, including pressure on the ongoing UN General Assembly and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which it chairs this year.
“The Malaysian government has both a moral and diplomatic responsibility to act and act fast,” she told Arab News.
“The Sumud Flotilla wasn’t carrying weapons — it carried milk for babies, medicine for the sick, and food for the hungry. It carried hope ... It’s about standing up for basic human dignity. When children are starving, silence is not neutrality — it’s complicity.”
The ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights network’s co-chair, Charles Santiago, released a statement saying that Israel’s interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla was “nothing short of state piracy.”
He added that it “has no jurisdiction there, no legal grounds to detain civilians,” in international waters.
“It arrogantly hijacks a humanitarian mission, proving once again its utter disregard for international law,” Santiago said.
“The world cannot look away: silence is complicity, and every hour of inaction emboldens Israel’s criminal blockade of Gaza.”
