The status of Isreal and Gaza? Hmmm… noting in the Middle East is simple. Isreal AFAIK does not recognize Palestine (or sub-units like Gaza) as separate states. Until 1967, it was part of Egypt, who actually took Gaza when they got into the 1948 war, at which time it was part of the Arab half of the separated Palestine that was IIRC divided between Israel and Palestine by the UN…
(Israel is not going to “annex” anything because that would mean that sooner or later the people living there become full citizens with voting rights. Just what Israel needs… NOT!)
So they are “ocupied territories” except they are not really occupied any more, they are a state that Isreal is at war with, except they are not a state in Isreal’s eyes and they are not at war. Does your head ache yet?
Regardless of status, Israel is blockading them for real and valid concerns, legal or not. This is a variation of the “golden rule” called “might makes right”. As pointed out above, international law is only as valid as the willingness of the various nations to enforce it. While Europe or N. America may not like what happened, they are not prepared to tell Israel to stop the blockade while the Gaza situation stays as it is.
As pointed out above, a military blockade is part of standard actions against an opponent. “Is it a country” is irrelevant. The blockade is there.
Good question - I don’t know the situation of territorial waters in the Mediterranean. Around N. America, countries claim 200 miles or even to the continental shelf for resources; but international law (ho ho) allows ships right of passage beyond the 12-mile limit, subject to various rules. (I.E. the USA or Canada will enforce pollution laws or fishing laws to 200 miles, but cannot stop a ship from actually passing closer than 200 miles just “passing by” to somewhere else.) I assume that the 200-mile thing is not allowed in teh mediterranean or else there would be no international waters.
The flotilla was according to the news about 70 miles offshore, in what are “international waters” according to the claims of Turkey.
If the blockade is legal, then presumably boarding and doing whatever they like to a vessel are legal. Resistance would be an act of war, or similar to resisting arrest.
However, lets get real. The issue was never the legality of the blockade. This group wanted to do a Gandhi; act peaceful and make the other side look like the bad guy. In this they succeeded admirably.
Winston Churchill, who was on the receiving end, had a low opinion of Gandhi - he said the guy was a sneaky hypocritical little fakir who pretended to be non-violent, but knew every time he provoked the British into arresting him, thousands rioted in the streets and hundreds were killed, making the British look bad. Whatever, it worked for India, just as schoolkids throwing stones at armed men worked for the Palestinians.
Given that the blockade runners were public knowledge, I am surprised the Israeli response was so bad. What did they think was going to happen when a commando drops into a swarm of fanatical pro-Palestinians? Best case, they join Gilead in Gaza. The group will try again next time, and again, and again; and they’ll have weather balloons on wire tethers to confound the helicopters. Or else Israel will have to torpedo unarmed civilians live on TV.
Like most wars, the easy part is winning in the beginning, the hard part is getting out clean.