Breaking: Spain joins Italy in sending warship to support Gaza-bound humanitarian flotilla
Gaza aid flotilla rejects Israel’s demand to dock in Ashkelon, calls request part of blockade
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The Global Sumud Flotilla on Tuesday rejected Israel’s demand that its vessels dock in Ashkelon to transfer humanitarian aid to Gaza, describing the request as part of Tel Aviv’s long-standing blockade of the Palestinian enclave, Anadolu reports.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday warned that flotilla ships would not be allowed to enter what it called an “active combat zone” and accused the Palestinian resistance group Hamas of organizing the mission.
It said aid could instead be unloaded at Ashkelon Port in southern Israel and transferred to Gaza “quickly and in a coordinated manner.”
In a statement, flotilla organizers dismissed the Israeli proposal, stressing that it is not a neutral logistical request but a tactic to obstruct relief and delegitimize those who challenge the siege.
“Since May 2025, after lifting its so-called ‘total blockade,’ Israel has permitted an average of only 70 trucks per day into Gaza, while UN agencies estimate that 500 to 600 trucks are required daily to meet basic needs,” the statement said.
It cited Israel’s record of intercepting vessels, blocking convoys and restricting routes as evidence that the intent “is not to facilitate relief but to control, delay and deny it.”
READ: Drone activity monitored over Gaza-bound aid flotilla
The flotilla noted that rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have condemned Israel’s restrictions as violations of international law and obstructions of impartial humanitarian assistance, Anadolu reports.
“Painting a peaceful humanitarian mission as a ‘breach of the law’ is a pretext for violence against civilians acting lawfully to deliver aid,” the statement continued, warning that such rhetoric “flouts international law” and places lives at risk.
The group urged governments, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations to ensure safe passage and protection for aid workers, uphold international humanitarian law by rejecting Israel’s siege, and act decisively to end what it described as “the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
It warned that “anything less risks entrenching a system of forced starvation, deprivation and collective punishment that is costing thousands of Palestinian lives.”
The flotilla includes vessels carrying humanitarian aid, international activists and parliamentarians seeking to break Israel’s blockade by directly reaching Gaza.
On Sept. 16, the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza announced that the flotilla’s ships would gather near the island nation of Malta to sail together across the Mediterranean toward Gaza’s shores, without specifying a date.
It is the largest effort of its kind, aiming to reach Gaza, where 2.4 million Palestinians live under an Israeli blockade that has lasted 18 years.
Israel has previously intercepted Gaza-bound ships, seizing the vessels and deporting those on board.
UN investigators recently concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, where more than 65,300 people have been killed since October 2023.
READ: Spain warns Israel against targeting Gaza-bound aid flotilla
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Portending Another Attack, Israeli Foreign Ministry Smears Sumud Flotilla as ‘Jihadist Initiative’
Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
One journalist said that it “feels like the response is being set up to be more severe than in the past.”
After Hamas urged international support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday signaled another potential attack by claiming on social media that the peaceful humanitarian mission to feed starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip “is a jihadist initiative serving the terror group’s agenda.”
While Israel has not taken responsibility for recent drone attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla—whose name means perseverance in Arabic—the incidents have raised eyebrows, given the country’s history of attacking previous ones. The foreign ministers of 16 other nations on Tuesday implored Israel not to target this flotilla, which involves activists and political leaders from dozens of countries, including eight US veterans.
As Middle East Eye reported Thursday, Hamas—which Israel and the United States designate as a terrorist organization despite its governance of Gaza—called for escalating the global movement in solidarity with the strip “in rejection of the [Israeli] occupation’s aggression, crimes of genocide, and starvation.”
“We call for mobilizing all means to support the Global Sumud Flotilla heading to Gaza, and we warn the occupation against targeting it,” Hamas also said in a statement, part of which was quoted in the Israeli ministry’s post on X.
Responding on the same platform, journalist Séamus Malekafzali said: “Past comments from the Israeli government about the aid flotillas focused on celebrity vapidity or didn’t mention their aim at all. Now, they’re honing in on it being a supposedly terrorist instrument. Feels like the response is being set up to be more severe than in the past.”
The post came two days after Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism published a report titled “Global Sumud Flotilla”: A Humanitarian Cover With Documented Links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.
As Brussels Signal reported Thursday:
Flotilla representatives and critics dismissed these claims as Israeli disinformation, echoing accusations leveled at prior missions, and called the report a case of “guilt by association,” reliant on photos and unverified affiliations rather than evidence of operational control.
Organizers emphasised transparent crowdfunding for aid, with no terror funding, and framed the convoy as a grassroots response to aid blockages.
Earlier this week, a commission of independent experts at the United Nations concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and an investigation from The New Humanitarian found that Israeli forces have killed nearly 3,000 Palestinian aid-seekers and wounded almost 20,000 others since October 2023. As of Thursday, the overall death toll has topped 65,000, though experts warn the true tally is likely far higher.
Original article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
Global Sumud Flotilla comes under second attack in days
Original article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
The Global Sumud Flotilla’s vessel “Alma” was hit in a new suspected drone strike, marking the second attack on the initiative within days.
The Global Sumud Flotilla has come under attack for a second time in days while preparing to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza by sea. The vessel Alma, sailing under a British flag, was struck in another suspected drone assault and sustained fire damage to its upper deck.
“These repeat attacks come during intensified Israeli aggression on Palestinians in Gaza, and are an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail our mission,” the coalition stated. “The Global Sumud Flotilla continues undeterred.”
While investigations are ongoing, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese wrote on social media that early expert opinions suspected a drone strike carried out with “an incendiary grenade wrapped in plastic materials dipped in fuel.” The incident followed the attack a day earlier on the flotilla’s Family Boat, which carried steering committee members and supplies for Gaza on previous legs of the voyage. The strike drew widespread condemnation from grassroots groups and led to immediate popular mobilizations in the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said, where the flotilla is currently docked.
Read more: Global Sumud Flotilla ship attacked ahead of departure
After the first assault, the coalition reaffirmed its determination to proceed. “We are leaving on this mission. No acts of aggression will stop us,” Global Sumud Flotilla’s Saif Abukeshek said. “In the coming days, the flotilla will be united at sea in our mission to break the siege, to end the genocide and to stand with the Palestinian people in their just struggle for freedom.”
“Our mission is clear: to expose Israel’s unfolding ethnic cleansing and stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the flotilla added.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is made up of trade unionists, health workers, actors, activists, and ordinary people seeking to reach Gaza with essential supplies while spotlighting Israeli war crimes and Western governments’ complicity. It marks the largest attempt to break the sea blockade since the genocide began in October 2023, supported by dozens of civilian vessels and thousands of volunteers on land.
Original article by Ana Vračar republished from peoples dispatch under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA) license.
Any attempt to block Gaza-bound flotilla is ‘attack’ on int’l law, warns rights group
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Amnesty International on Monday urged Israel to allow an international flotilla aiming to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, warning that any attempt to block it would be an attack on humanitarian principles and international law, Anadolu reports.
The UK-based rights group praised activists of the Global Sumud Flotilla initiative over its “powerful & inspiring act of solidarity” with Palestinians, who are struggling to survive under Israel’s cruel and unlawful blockade and amidst its ongoing genocide in the occupied Gaza Strip.”
“Israel must allow the flotilla to carry out its peaceful mission safely. Any attempt to block it is an attack on humanitarian principles and international law,” Amnesty International said on US social media company X.
It said the fact that activists from nearly 50 countries have resorted to launching this mission is an “indictment of the international community’s consistent failure” to press Israel to end its inhumane blockade.
Defining the crippling situation in Gaza as “one of the worst manmade humanitarian disasters in the world,” the rights group stressed that Israel has an obligation to ensure civilians in Gaza have sufficient access to food, medicine, and other supplies.
READ: Global Sumud Flotilla sets sail from Barcelona in bid to break Gaza blockade
“There can be no justification for obstructing life-saving aid,” it said, calling on Israel to lift its blockade, allow free flow of humanitarian aid, and end its genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“We call also on states take meaningful action to end impunity and uphold international humanitarian law,” the statement said.
The flotilla of more than 20 boats that set sail Sunday to break Israel’s siege of Gaza returned to the port of Barcelona on Monday due to a storm.
Around 200 activists, politicians, and artists from 44 countries began their voyage after a large rally in support of their mission.
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, Spanish actor Eduardo Fernandez, and former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau are part of the mission.
This is the third aid ship of its kind in recent months to attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Previous attempts have been unsuccessful, with Israeli forces intercepting the boats in international waters.
READ: ‘Wish I could be there with you’: Holocaust survivor backs Gaza Freedom Flotilla
