Update: Israel intercepted all of the boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla on October 1 and 2. The flotilla is calling on supporters to contact their governments to demand the safe release of all participants and an end to the Israeli blockade of and genocide in Gaza.
In the thirty days since the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), a civilian effort to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza by sea, set sail in late August, its fleet has been targeted in international waters by three separate drone attacks that caused damage to several vessels. As the group of more than forty small boats carrying food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid continues its voyage, with less than 160 nautical miles remaining before it reaches the shores of Gaza, organizers are calling on governments to accompany the flotilla with naval vessels.
“We call on the governments of Turkey, Italy, Spain—and of the entire world—to transform their supportive gestures into commitments and into action,” GSF’s organizers said in a press statement. “Accompany this flotilla to Gaza’s shores.”
According to the organizers, the flotilla could enter the “high-risk zone”—where Israel has illegally intercepted past flotilla ships—as soon as the evening of September 30. The Israeli foreign ministry stated on September 22 that it “will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow any breach of the lawful naval blockade.” Organizers of the flotilla and human rights groups contend the blockade is illegal. So far, no nation has committed to concrete steps to ensure that the flotilla is allowed safe passage all the way to Gaza.
“Israel has said that they will intercept us,” Tor Stumo, a U.S. citizen and maritime engineer aboard the GSF’s Huga-Yatta vessel, tells The Progressive. “They have said that they will send a prison ship and deport anyone who does not resist. They said that they will imprison us if we do resist, and sink our ships.”
Throughout its month-long voyage, the flotilla has been surveilled by drones, though flotilla members cannot tell if any given drone belongs to Israel, European anti-migration efforts, or otherwise. On September 8, the Familia Madeira vessel was attacked by suspected drones off the coast of Tunisia, followed by a similar attack on the Alma vessel the next day. Footage from GSF boats shows the Familia Madeira being hit from above, followed by an explosion. Similarly, video shows a flotilla member standing on the deck of the Alma as a fiery blast descends rapidly from above. Two weeks later, on September 23, multiple ships were hit simultaneously by twelve drones off the coast of Greece; nearby vessels were damaged by chemical attacks and explosives.
“At that time, I wouldn’t deny that I felt fear, because it was dark and we couldn’t really know what was happening,” says Lorena Delgado-Varas, a member of the Swedish Parliament who is also aboard the Huga-Yatta. “Afterwards, when the calm came and the bombs stopped, I also became angry because we are civilians . . . . We are carrying humanitarian aid, we are not a threat to anyone. Why does a government feel . . . that we are a threat to anyone?”
After the September 23 attack, Italy and Spain sent naval ships to protect the flotilla, motivated in part by an Italian general strike for Palestine that shut down ports, roads, trains, and subways across the country. The Turkish and Greek governments have also provided aid to the flotilla. But after urging GSF to abandon its mission, Italy has stated it will withdraw its naval support, leaving the fleet of ships even more vulnerable to interception or further attacks as it approaches the danger zone.
The GSF fleet rejected an offer from Israel on September 23 to “dock and transfer” its aid to the Israeli government due to concerns that Israel would not transfer the aid to the people of Gaza as it claimed and further entrench its blockade of the territory, as well as an offer from Italy to offload aid in Cyprus to the Catholic Church. But the voyage has been harrowing thus far, and given Israel’s response to previous attempts at civilian breach of Gaza’s eighteen-year-long blockade, there is no reason to believe that it will allow the fleet safe passage absent significant international pressure.
Though the flotilla has not been attacked since September 23, Stumo says the drones remain a nearly constant presence.
Stumo says that people around the world can help the flotilla by pressuring their governments to act toward ensuring its safe passage to Gaza. “Sitting on the couch demoralized and shouting into the abyss is exactly what Israel wants them to do,” he says. And though the journey ahead is full of potential dangers, he says he remains motivated by the Palestinians with whom he has been in touch daily, who describe “[feeling] like walking corpses” amid the inescapability of Israel’s siege on Gaza. “This is not legal,” he says. “This is not normal, this is a genocide.”
“Every time we’re attacked,” Stumo says, “the only thought that’s going through my head and my crewmates is, ‘Keep ourselves safe and keep the boats sailing to Gaza.’ We always know it’s worse in Gaza, and we don’t waste any sympathy for ourselves.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to indicate that the number of drones seen each night is variable.