More than 100 activists aboard aid ships bound for Gaza were taken to the Greek island of Crete on Friday after Israeli forces seized their vessels in international waters near Greece, flotilla organisers said.

The activists were part of a second Global Sumud Flotilla, launched in recent months in an attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza by delivering humanitarian assistance.

The ships set sail from the Spanish port of Barcelona on April 12.

On Friday, an Israeli army ship transferred 168 members of the flotilla crew to Greek boats, which then took them to shore, where buses and an ambulance waited for them, organisers said and Reuters footage showed.

Former Jamaat-i-Islami senator Mushtaq Ahmad is also part of the Global Sumud Flotilla mission, though it is not immediately clear if he was among those taken into Israeli custody.

Before communications were jammed, he posted videos to social media platform X saying, “Flotilla under attack, Israeli terrorist army has captured 11 of our boats.”

Israel’s foreign ministry called the flotilla organisers “professional provocateurs” and “Israel will not allow the breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza”.

Two activists held

Two activists were detained by Israeli authorities, according to statements from Israel and the organisers of the flotilla, who identified them as Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian Thiago Avila.

Spain’s foreign minister, Jose Manuel Albares, accused Israel of illegally arresting Abu Keshek and demanded his immediate release.

Israel’s foreign ministry said Abu Keshek was suspected of affiliation with a terrorist organisation and Avila was suspected of illegal activity, adding that both would be taken to Israel for questioning.

In a post on their Telegram channel, organisers of the flotilla alleged that activists had been denied adequate food and water and “forced to sleep on floors that were deliberately and repeatedly flooded” aboard an Israeli naval vessel, describing their treatment as “40 hours of calculated cruelty”.

It said some suffered injuries, including broken noses and cracked ribs, when they were kicked and dragged across the deck with their hands tied after they tried to protest against the detention of their two fellow activists.

There was no immediate comment from Israel on the allegations of mistreatment.

Germany’s and Italy’s foreign ministries issued a joint statement saying they were following developments with “deep concern”.

A source who asked not to be identified said that while 22 boats had been intercepted by Israel, 47 others were still sailing off southern Crete and planned to anchor there at some point before continuing onwards to Gaza. Each ship is carrying about a ton of food, medical and other equipment, the source said.

The 22 vessels were seized by Israel late on Wednesday in international waters off Greece’s Peloponnese peninsula, which is hundreds of miles from Gaza, the flotilla’s organisers said.

In a statement on Thursday, the US State Department threatened “to impose consequences” against those who support the flotilla, which it cast as pro-Hamas.

Pro-Palestinian activists say Israel and the US wrongly conflate their advocacy for Palestinian rights as support for Hamas.

Last October, Israel’s military halted a previous flotilla assembled by the same organisation, arresting Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and more than 450 participants. That followed other seaborne attempts to reach blockaded Gaza.

Palestinians and international aid bodies say supplies reaching Gaza are still insufficient, despite a ceasefire reached in October that included guarantees of increased aid.

Most of Gaza’s more than two million people have been displaced, many now living in bombed-out homes and makeshift tents pitched on open ground, roadsides, or atop the ruins of destroyed buildings.

Israel, which controls all access to the Gaza Strip, denies withholding supplies for its residents.

International condemnation

Pakistan and 10 other countries have condemned the “Israeli assault” on the Global Sumud Flotilla, which they said was as a peaceful civilian humanitarian initiative aimed at drawing the attention of the international community to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

A joint statement issued by the foreign ministers of Pakistan, Turkiye, Brazil, Jordan, Spain, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Colombia, Maldives, South Africa and Libya said the Israeli attacks against the vessels and the unlawful detention of humanitarian activists in international waters constituted “flagrant violations of international law and international humanitarian law”.

Madrid blasted the seizure and said it had summoned Israel’s charge d’affaires in Spain.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez accused Israel of “once again violating international law by attacking a civilian flotilla in waters that do not belong to it”, urging the EU to freeze bilateral ties.

Flotilla organiser, meanwhile, termed the Israeli action “piracy”.

“This is the unlawful seizure of human beings on the open sea near Crete, an assertion that Israel can operate with total impunity, far beyond its own borders, with no consequences,” the said in a statement.

The United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday that it was quitting Opec, dealing a heavy blow to the oil-exporting cartel and its de facto leader, Saudi Arabia, at a time when the Iran war has caused a historic energy shock and rattled the global economy.

But what is Opec, and how does it impact consumers?

What is Opec?

Founded in 1960, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) is a bloc of oil-exporting nations that coordinate their oil and gas policies as a means of managing the oil market.

The founding members were Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela, but in 2016 the group expanded into OPEC+, which now comprises 23 countries.

The bloc controls slightly over 50 per cent of global crude production, Jorge León, head of geopolitical analysis at Rystad Energy, told Reuters.

What is the purpose of Opec?

Opec’s main purpose is to reduce volatility in oil markets, León said. He used the example of the Covid-19 pandemic, when oil demand dropped by 20 million barrels a day.

The group reduced supply by 10m barrels to stabilise the market.

“These are historical examples that show how Opec and Opec+ have managed to manage the market, moving supply from one period to another,” he said.

Why is the UAE leaving?

The loss of the UAE, a longstanding Opec member, could weaken the group, which has usually sought to show a united front despite internal disagreements over geopolitics and production quotas.

So why has the UAE left? León said it comes down to incentives. Being part of a bloc that exists within a growing market is one thing, but when that market shrinks, the incentives shrink as well.

“If you’re part of a cartel that operates in a shrinking market, then the incentives to remain in the group are less and less,” he said.

“It’s more about who moves first. And right now, it seems like the UAE has taken that step.”

The UAE has not attributed its departure to the war, according to CNBC.

Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday that the UAE’s exit was timed to “limit the disruption” to fellow producers in the group.

According to the minister, it wanted more freedom to make production decisions without Opec constraints, and to reach its goal of 5m bpd of capacity by 2027.

The UAE has “chafed” under years of oil production cuts led by the Saudis to support prices, said Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, according to CNBC.

What impact will it have?

In the short term, León said the impact would be minimal.

“Because of the Strait of Hormuz being closed, any additional supply coming from the UAE is quite restrictive at the moment,” León explained.

Once the strait reopens, however, the UAE will likely rush to increase oil production and make use of its spare capacity.

“They will start pumping as much as they can to reach those five million barrels per day. So in reality, what it means is that there’s more supply to the market in the medium term,” he elaborated.

The market may miss Saudi Arabia’s ability to put a floor under prices if oil demand is weak and there’s a big surplus in the future, David Goldwyn, the US State Department’s former special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs, told CNBC.

“There’s a significant risk of higher oil price volatility as a result of this decision,” he said. “But in the end, when market conditions require cooperation, the UAE leaving Opec doesn’t prevent it from cooperating with Opec.”

While oil futures prices did not react strongly to the announcement on Tuesday, the move could prove bearish later, John Kilduff, founder of Again Capital, said, according to CNBC.

“It undermines the cohesion needed among producers to keep prices from falling too much during supply gluts,” he said.

What happens to Opec now?

“It really puts a question mark on the future of Opec and Opec+ as a cohesive organisation,” León said, adding that all eyes will now be on Saudi Arabia.

As the “central banker” of the oil market, will they continue to take the reins and manage the market? Or will the market become more of a free-for-all?

“That is the big question at the moment,” León said.

According to CNBC, the UAE was the most influential member of Opec behind Saudi Arabia, as they were among the few members with meaningful spare production capacity — idle production that can be brought online quickly during crises — to influence prices and respond to supply shocks.

“Saudi Arabia and the UAE together control a majority of the world’s total spare capacity of more than 4m barrels per day, making them particularly influential during periods of distress,” CNBC said.

The UAE’s departure, therefore, removes “one of the core pillars underpinning Opec’s ability to manage the market”, León noted. As a result, Opec will become “structurally weaker”.

Goldwyn said that the move would also undermine the Saudis’ ability to manage Opec as an organisation.

“Riyadh will still have a significant ability to discipline the market with its own spare capacity, but it will have a weaker hand now that the UAE is no longer a member,” Goldwyn told CNBC.

China has selected two Pakistani astronauts as candidates for its manned space programme, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday.

Both will travel to China for training, and one will participate in a flight mission as a payload specialist and become the first foreign astronaut in China’s space station, CCTV said.

Meanwhile, China Daily reported on Wednesday that the astronauts were identified as Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud. The report said the two had passed multiple rounds of selection procedures and will soon come to China to take part in spaceflight training.

It quoted the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) as saying that the selection and training of Pakistani astronauts was a “landmark event in the history of China’s space industry”.

Separately, in a statement issued by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) said the astronauts were set to depart for China to “begin advanced astronaut training at the Astronaut Centre of China (ACC)”.

It stressed that the development was a “significant step forward in Pakistan’s space exploration journey that positions the country in the community of a select group of nations actively engaged in human spaceflight programs”.

As per Suparco, “under this collaboration, Pakistan is preparing for its first-ever participation in a mission to the China Space Station (CSS)”, which the space agency said is planned for launch in late 2026.

“During mission aboard the CSS, the Pakistani astronaut will conduct several scientific experiments in microgravity,” as per the statement.

It added that the experiments span “critical areas including material science, fluid physics, life/bio science, and biotechnology, with potential applications for climate resilience, food security, and industrial innovation”.

Suparco further stated that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had commended the efforts of the space agency, terming the development “a harbinger of deep space exploration”.

According to the statement, the premier noted that the partnership with China was “yet another testimony” of Pakistan-China friendship.

In February 2025, Suparco and CMSA had signed a cooperation agreement. Under the pact, two Pakistanis were to train in China, with one joining a mission on the Tiangong space station operated by Beijing.

In February this year, two astronauts were shortlisted for Pakistan’s Human Spaceflight Programme by the Astronauts Centre of China.

China has been barred from particip­ating in the International Space Station since 2011, when the US prohibited Nasa from collaborating with Chinese space agencies. Since then, Beijing has sought to build partnerships with other countries — including Pakistan — in its expanding space programme.