Hamas documents recovered by Israeli troops in Gaza allegedly reveal the terror group’s “direct involvement” in an activist mission currently sailing dozens of boats to challenge Israel’s blockade of the Strip, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday.

In a statement, the ministry claimed that the documents “show a direct link between the flotilla leaders and the Hamas terrorist organization,” especially the group’s foreign arm, the Palestinian Conference for Palestinians, or PCPA.

The PCPA ‏was established in 2018, and according to Israel, “functions as Hamas’ representative body abroad, operating de facto as Hamas’ embassies.” PCPA was designated by Israel as a terror group in 2021, due to its being a Hamas arm.

“The organization operates under civilian cover and is responsible, on behalf of Hamas, for mobilizing actions against Israel, including violent demonstrations, marches against Israel, and flotillas of protest and provocation,” the ministry said.

One document published by the ministry, which was recently found in Gaza, was a letter from 2021 signed by then-Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh, “directly and explicitly calling on the PCPA chairman for unity.”

“In the letter, Haniyeh publicly endorses the PCPA organization,” the ministry said.

The ministry said a second document, found in a Hamas outpost in Gaza, showed a list of PCPA operatives, “some of whom are high-ranking, well-known Hamas operatives.”

Among them was Zaher Birawi, who serves as the head of PCPA in the United Kingdom and is known for organizing activist flotilla missions to Gaza over the past 15 years. In 2010, he was one of the spokesmen of the Turkish Mavi Marmara flotilla.

Birawi is described on the pro-Palestinian outlet Middle East Monitor as a journalist, the chairman of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, and a founding member of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition.

Also on the list was Saif Abu Kashk, a PCPA member in Spain, who the ministry said is also the CEO of Cyber Neptune, “a front company in Spain that owns dozens of the ships participating in the ‘Sumud’ flotilla.”

It claimed that Kashk’s involvement proves that the ships “are secretly owned by Hamas.”

The ministry published photos of Birawi with flotilla activists and other pictures showing him alongside senior Hamas officials.

The 47-boat flotilla is currently some 150 nautical miles from Gaza, according to the organizers, and is set to reach the Strip this week. It is carrying dozens of activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg.

The Israeli Navy is set to intercept the boats, and in the past has done so well before the activists were able to get close to Gaza’s coast. Israel has previously dismissed the flotillas as publicity stunts.

IDF spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said Thursday that the Navy is ready to intercept the boats, although he noted that it would be a greater challenge than past flotilla attempts due to the number of vessels.

Due to the large number of vessels, the Navy is expected to board the boats, detain the activists, and bring them to one large Navy ship, and from there, bring them to Ashdod Port to be deported from the country. Some of the activists’ vessels may be towed to Ashdod Port as well, though military sources said they expect that some may be sunk at sea by the Navy.

The Sumud flotilla is being escorted by one Spanish and two Italian navy vessels, which their respective governments have clarified are not expected to use military force.

Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since the Hamas terror group seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007 in a violent coup.

Israel said it was necessary to limit Hamas’s ability to smuggle in arms. Critics of the blockade said it amounted to collective punishment of Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.

Israel has come under huge international pressure over its war in Gaza. The war started on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.

The war has sparked a humanitarian crisis in the Strip, with most of the population displaced.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 66,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it had killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas, including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.