The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts.
Specifically paragraph 98:
98. Merchant vessels believed on reasonable grounds to be breaching a blockade may be captured.
Merchant vessels which, after prior warning, clearly resist capture may be attacked.
There are much more credible arguments that deems Israel illegally stopped them than against it.
You have to give it to Hasbara though, they will always spin it as it is legal and as if Israel checks law books before hand. In reality ITF does whatever it wants. Then Hasbara tells lies and half truths. They don't care if it is even believable, but always have something to say, and say it as if it was the only truth.
From your own link it says that the UN concluded that the blockade is legal (“Israel was justified in stopping vessels even outside its territorial waters”), only that excessive force was used. That was 15 years ago, now no excessive force was used so everything was legal right?
And regarding your second link, which has nothing to do with this matter, but it’s easy to pick and choose one small mistake when you ignore that Israel killed Hamas leader which was literally hiding under a hospital: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Gaza_European_Hospital_st...
It is contested but the general consensue is that the actions are illegal.
The interception of the Gaza-bound flotilla is illegal because it occurred in international waters against civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid, because the underlying blockade of Gaza itself is widely considered unlawful under international law.
A blockade that causes severe deprivation to civilians, through actions such as restricting food, medicine, and essential supplies violates the prohibition on collective punishment in the Fourth Geneva Convention. Since the blockade has this effect, enforcing it through the seizure of peaceful ships breaches international humanitarian and maritime law.
The interception also infringes on freedom of navigation and fails the tests of necessity and proportionality, making the action likely inconsistent with accepted legal standards.
The arguments put forward for it being legal are really just cover/propoganda for punitive actions by Israel to aid in its continued genocide.
If you decide that a law is unlawful you can’t act on it, you need to go to courts, which have been tried and dismissed since laws are not a matter of popular opinion, but a matter of informed and professional opinion.
You can get 2 billion people to say that the blockade is illegal but it doesn’t make it so.
Likewise Israel saying it is legal doesn't make it so.
Given the number of international laws it has broken and that it refuses to abide by, or deliberately avoids, decisions by international courts it's slightly more complicated than going to court
The San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts. Specifically paragraph 98:
98. Merchant vessels believed on reasonable grounds to be breaching a blockade may be captured. Merchant vessels which, after prior warning, clearly resist capture may be attacked.