Archiv: Global Sumud Flotilla (coalition of organizations)


20.10.2025 - 16:06 [ Jacobin ]

»Wir können unabhängig von unseren Regierungen handeln«

(October 16, 2025)

Gibt es Überlegungen, aus der Flottila eine dauerhafte Bewegung gegen Apartheid und Genozid zu entwickeln?

Flotillas gibt es ja schon seit Beginn der Blockade und es wird sie auch so lange geben, bis sie endet. Durch die Sumud Flotilla haben sich unglaublich viele Menschen kennengelernt und vernetzt. Viele haben verstanden, wie wichtig kollektive Organisation ist. Der Generalstreik in Italien – dass Arbeiterinnen und Arbeiter den italienischen Staat zum Handeln gezwungen haben – hat gezeigt, was es praktisch bedeutet, wenn sich alle zusammentun. Ich bin sicher, dass daraus etwas entstehen wird. Diese Netzwerke werden wachsen.

13.10.2025 - 14:16 [ Abna.24 ]

Spanish Activist Deported After Coerced Confession in Israeli Prison

Her lawyer told The Times of Israel that Cervilla had to plead guilty in order to return home, emphasizing that she acted in self-defense and that the prison guard had been violent toward her and her friend.

The lawyer also revealed that Israeli police possess video footage of the incident, which allegedly shows the guard’s aggressive behavior toward Cervilla and her companion.

During a court hearing, Cervilla testified that she was subjected to physical abuse by prison guards while in custody.

“They beat me, pushed us repeatedly,” she told the court. “Contrary to the official account, they attacked my friend, and I tried to protect her. When I reached her, they grabbed my head and knocked off my glasses. After being shoved from all directions, I got up from the floor,” Cervilla recounted.

09.10.2025 - 23:51 [ Middle East Eye ]

Polish activists return from Gaza flotilla, denounce Israeli ‘brutality’ and Warsaw’s inaction

The delegation, arriving on a flight from Athens, included ruling Civic Platform (PO) lawmaker Franciszek Sterczewski, activists Omar Faris and Nina Ptak, and journalist Ewa Jasiewicz. Faris, Ptak, and Sterczewski were deported to Greece on Monday, while Jasiewicz had left Israel earlier.

Sterczewski sharply criticized both Israel and Poland’s foreign minister, Radoslaw Sikorski.(…)

“They treated us absolutely brutally. For several hours, I’m 73 years old, they tied my hands behind my back and put me on rocks,” Faris said.

He added that during interrogation in an Israeli prison, the activists were questioned about possible links to Hamas. “Our problem is the occupation, which began 42 years before the founding of Hamas,” he said. “You won’t be able to kill us. And we don’t want to kill you either. We want a solution like in South Africa — a democratic state for all, regardless of religion.”

08.10.2025 - 18:31 [ DawnNews English / Youtube ]

Greta Thunberg Alleges Torture During Detention in Israeli Prison After Gaza Flotilla Arrest

Thunberg told a news conference in Stockholm that she and others were „kidnapped and tortured“ by the Israeli military.

She declined to elaborate, adding when pressed that she didn‘t get clean water and that other detainees were deprived of critical medication.

Israel‘s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment but has repeatedly denied mistreating the detainees.

08.10.2025 - 17:20 [ Zeteo ]

EXCLUSIVE: Freed Flotilla Activist David Adler Details His ‘Violent Abduction’ by Israel

Watch the full conversation above or on YouTube to also hear David discuss his treatment as a Jewish activist receiving “special interrogation by Ben-Gvir” and the US’s lack of response to his illegal detention.

08.10.2025 - 17:15 [ David Adler / Jacobin ]

I Spent Five Days in Israel’s Desert Prison

People were taken individually out of their cells and regularly beaten, handcuffed, ankle-cuffed, and left in solitary confinement. This happened many times over many days. We were denied the most basic things, like critical access to insulin for diabetic detainees that were part of the flotilla. In short, we were treated as terrorists, just as national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had promised.

From the first moment that we stepped onto that tarmac after interception, we were violently forced onto our knees into positions of submission. The two Jews of the flotilla were taken by the rear and ripped from the group for a photo op with Ben-Gvir — staring at the flag of the State of Israel and taunted by his goons. Thus began a five-day nightmare of serial and systematic violation of our most basic rights. Reports varied from the different cellblocks. But one report that is consistent is that we were all denied food and water. At all times, we were denied access to medicine based on the whims of individual officers working shifts.

(…)

Of course, all of this pales in comparison to the treatment that Palestinians endure every single day. Eleven thousand of them are in indefinite detention at the moment, including in the same internment camp where we were held as terrorists by Israel.

07.10.2025 - 23:58 [ Al Jazeera ]

Six activists from Gaza aid flotilla remain in Israeli detention

“Six participants who were aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, unlawfully intercepted and detained on their way to Gaza amid the ongoing genocide, remain in Israeli detention,” a statement said.

Lawyers submitted requests to Israeli authorities to visit the detainees on Wednesday if they remain in custody. Israeli media earlier reported that authorities extended the detention of Spanish activist Reyes Rigo Cervilla for one week.

07.10.2025 - 02:26 [ Common Dreams ]

Thunberg Confirms Abuse by Israeli Abductors, But Urges World to Focus on Gaza Genocide

“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me, but that is not the story,” Thunberg said during a press conference at Athens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Greece, where she and other flotilla participants released by Israel were greeted by a cheering crowd.

“What happened here is that Israel, while continuing to worsen and escalate their genocide and mass destruction with genocidal intent, attempting to erase an entire population, an entire nation in front of our very eyes, they once again violated international law by preventing humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza while people are being starved,” she continued.

“This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fueled by our own governments, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity… to use our privileges, our platforms, to take a stance against this, that is in every way unjustifiable,” Thunberg asserted.

“I will never, ever comprehend how humans can be so evil that you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades and decades of suffocating oppression, apartheid, occupation,” she added.

07.10.2025 - 02:16 [ DRM News / Youtube ]

LIVE: Greta Thunberg Arrives in Greece After Gaza Flotilla Detention in Israel

Streamed live 11 hours ago #GretaThunberg #GazaFlotilla #AthensArrival

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, along with 27 Greek nationals and over 70 international deportees from the intercepted Global Sumud Flotilla, arrives in Athens on a special flight from Israel. Detained during the humanitarian aid mission to Gaza, they return amid global outcry over the blockade and mistreatment allegations. DRM News provides live coverage of the airport arrival, statements, and reactions to the ongoing crisis.

07.10.2025 - 01:47 [ Democracy News ]

Gaza Flotilla Update: U.K. Journalist Describes “Torturous Conditions” in Israeli Custody

So, I was dragged out of the boat by my collar and chucked on the floor, cut my knee open. And the first thing I saw as we were dragged out, or I was dragged out, was 300 people kneeling with their hands behind their backs, facing straight down at the concrete, outside of the Port of Ashdod. They were forced to stay there, in some cases, for six hours. I was forced to stay there for about two-and-a-half hours on my knees with my hands behind my back, before I was processed in the Ashdod center and sent to the prison in the Negev Desert, which we can get onto the conditions of in a moment.

At that point, Ben-Gvir, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was brought out so that he could parade in front of us. And I think the assumption — and I want to emphasize this — I think the assumption was that we would be cowed, that we would be fearful, that we would stay quiet. And actually, that’s not what happened. And what happened sets the tone for what then carried on in the prison, which is that everybody, as soon as we saw Ben-Gvir, 300 people on their knees — in fear, no doubt — started shouting, “Free Palestine! Free Palestine!” calling him a génocidaire and a baby killer and so on. And he was really shocked. You could see that Ben-Gvir was stunned by that. His people, the police, they were all stunned by it. They expected us to be cowed, and we weren’t.

06.10.2025 - 02:22 [ CNN ]

Three Israeli anti-war activists who tried to break through Gaza border freed from jail

Itamar Greenberg, Roman Levin and Roy Elani were arrested and detained in Beersheba District Court after crossing briefly into the Gaza border on Friday.

The activists are part of a small but loud group of Israelis who have decried their country’s military actions in Gaza and who have marched toward the Gaza fence for weeks in solidarity with the Sumud Flotilla, aiming “to break the siege on Gaza.”

06.10.2025 - 02:16 [ Andrey X / X ]

We broke into Gaza

(October 3, 2025)

06.10.2025 - 01:25 [ Global Sumud Flotilla ]

ISRAEL‘S CRIMES AGAINST THE GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA HUMANITARIAN ACTIVISTS

The List of Crimes Committed by Israel:

1.Illegal Interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla. Violation of customary norms of international law as accepted under Articles 19, 88 and 301 of UNCLOS, which requires that states respect the peaceful and safe passage of vessels. Israel does not have the right to intercept civilian vessels according to UNCLOS Article 110 with none of the exceptions under Article 110 (a) – (e) having been engaged.

2. Abduction and arbitrary arrest of participants. Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Prohibition of arbitrary arrests. The activists were not combatants or a military threat. The activists are legitimate citizens participating in a humanitarian mission, neither are they irregular migrants attempting to enter Israel territory contrary to Israeli immigrations laws.

3. Forced transfer to prisons in Israel. Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention: Prohibition of the transfer of civilians from occupied territory. This rule extends to the protection of persons arrested at sea in the context of an armed conflict.

4. Physical violence and inhuman treatment by the use of water cannons against peaceful civilians on high sea contrary to Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions: Prohibition of violence against civilians. Article 5: Prohibition of torture and cruel treatment.

5. Defaming peaceful citizens is a form of illegal stigmatization. Insults, Defamation, and the Slanderous Labeling of „Terrorists“: Right to Dignity (Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 1).

6. Unlawful processing of activists as „illegal immigrants“ before the Immigration Authority, court hearings without the presence of lawyers, and coercion into signing a document stating that the participants entered Israel illegally: Violation of the right to a fair trial, liberty, and Security under Article 9 and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

7. Repeated drone attacks by Israel against the Flotilla. Act of aggression against the flag and citizen states, including the illegal use of force, and as a war crime under Article 8 of the Rome statute and violation of 2(4) of the UN Charter as well as infringement of the human rights of the people onboard.

8. Attack of the Vessels and seizure thereof. On the High Seas, the law applying on each ship is the domestic law of its flag state. An attack by an Israeli military warship on a vessel on the High Seas is an attack and infringement of the sovereignty of the flag state. These acts of illegal possession of vessels or abduction of crew on the High Seas can be pursued by each flag state and constitutes a crime within their domestic jurisdiction.

9. Forcibly intercepting and seizing a civilian vessel carrying humanitarian aid for the population of Gaza. Clear reflection of Israel’s unlawful starvation policy, which is prohibited under international humanitarian law and listed as a war crime under Article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute. The Israeli blockade over Gaza is unlawful in light of Paragraph 102 of the San Remo Manual, which stipulates the illegality of a blockade if it ‘has the sole purpose of starving the civilian population or denying it other objects essential for its survival’. Israel’s unlawful blockade has been condemned numerous times by the UN bodies and experts, most recently by the UN Commission of Inquiry in August 2025 which concluded that Isreal has committed genocide in Gaza, including by depriving the Palestinian group of objects indispensable for their survival.

05.10.2025 - 18:04 [ Global Sumud Flotilla / Telegram ]

Update from Adalah Illegal Hearings and Mistreatment of GSF Detainees at Ktzi‘ot Prison

4 October 2025 – 15:50 GMT+3

Yesterday, Friday 3 October, Adalah lawyers met with approximately 80 flotilla participants during hearings before the tribunal reviewing detention orders.

Around 200 hearings were held late Thursday night and into Friday morning, without any prior notice to Adalah’s lawyers and without legal defenders for the flotilla participants present. Hearings are continuing today, and our lawyers are currently at Ktzi‘ot Prison where hundreds of flotilla participants are currently being held.

05.10.2025 - 17:30 [ CBS News ]

Netanyahu ordered drone attacks on Gaza-bound humanitarian aid boats off Tunisia, sources say

(October 3, 2025)

Washington — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu directly approved military operations on two vessels early last month that were part of a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid and pro-Palestinian supporters, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, CBS News has learned.

Two American intelligence officials briefed on the matter told CBS News that Israeli forces on Sept. 8 and 9 launched drones from a submarine and dropped incendiary devices onto the boats that were moored outside the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou Said, causing a fire.

05.10.2025 - 16:03 [ Jerusalem Post ]

Ben-Gvir: Thunberg and flotilla activists ‚deserve conditions of terrorists‘ in prison

Thunberg herself remains in Israeli custody.

05.10.2025 - 15:14 [ Left Voice ]

2 Million People Paralyze Italy in a General Strike for Gaza and the Flotilla

Italian dockworkers and the Union of Base Trade Unions (USB) vowed that they would respond with strikes and class struggle in the event of an attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla, and they delivered. On October 3, Italy exploded in a day of “wildcat” strike actions across many sectors.

Despite intimidation from the authorities, who declared the strike illegal and deployed heavy repressive operations, the USB and the dockworkers managed to get Italian workers across sectors to stop and take to the streets, forcing the bureaucracy of the main labor union (CGIL) to call for a strike and demonstrations. Following the important day of struggle on September 22, over two million workers demonstrated and walked off the streets on Friday, especially in the metalworking, logistics, and education sectors.

05.10.2025 - 15:10 [ Associated Press ]

2 million rally in Italy for Gaza as general strike halts key services

According to the CGIL union, 300,000 people marched through the streets of Rome alone, while the national average participation in the general strike stood at around 60%, halting all the main services in key sectors including transportation and schools.

03.10.2025 - 00:27 [ Al Jazeera ]

Gaza official says flotilla’s message ‘reached the entire world’

“Our message to the heroic solidarity activists: You may not have reached us with your bodies, but you reached our hearts before you even set sail, with your humanitarian solidarity and the purity of your noble and pristine intentions,” he wrote.

“Your message has reached the entire world.”

03.10.2025 - 00:25 [ Jacobin ]

The Sumud Flotilla Has Succeeded in Making Israel a Pariah

The Global Sumud Flotilla seemingly breached Israel’s blockade of Gaza while provoking an Israeli response that triggered anger and reprisals from various governments. It’s one of the most successful acts of civil disobedience in recent history.

02.10.2025 - 21:34 [ Middle East Eye ]

Sumud Flotilla says one vessel still sailing after Israeli attack

The Sumud Flotilla said one vessel, the Marinette, is “still sailing strong“ after Israel‘s unlawful inteception of the Flotilla on Wednesday.

“In the last 24h, 21 boats were confirmed intercepted, 20 presumably intercepted and 1 still sailing,” the Sumud activists wrote in an Instagram post.

02.10.2025 - 21:32 [ Global Sumud Flotilla / Telegram ]

Update from Adalah — Global Sumud Flotilla, Lawyers Denied Access to Participants

(…)

02.10.2025 - 15:22 [ Global Sumud Flotilla / Telegram ]

The Light of Day Exposes The Crime.

At approximately 10:00 PM EEST on October 1st, the IOF launched their assault on the Global Sumud Flotilla.

The world bore witness as unarmed civilians carrying humanitarian aid were subjected to intimidation and interception in the final hours of their peaceful mission to Gaza.

As the sun rises, the actions taken under the cover of darkness could not be more clear: they are the desperate maneuvers of an oppressor.

Our spirits are not broken and our resolve is only strengthened.

We will no longer allow these actions to continue with impunity. We will hold the line.

#BreakTheSiege #Interception #GlobalSumudFlotilla #FreePalestine

02.10.2025 - 15:09 [ Global Sumud Flotilla ]

GLOBAL SUMUD FLOTILLA UPDATES FOLLOWING ILLEGAL INTERCEPTION AND ABDUCTION OF VOLUNTEERS

MEDITERRANEAN SEA – After Israeli occupation naval forces illegally intercepted vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla —a peaceful, non-violent convoy carrying food, baby formula, medicine, and volunteers from 47 countries to Gaza—hundreds of participants have been abducted and reportedly taken aboard the large naval vessel, the MSC
Johannesburg. This was after they were assaulted with water cannons, doused with skunk water, and had their communications systematically jammed in yet more acts of aggression against unarmed civilians.

(…)

Mikeno, sailing under the French flag, may have entered Palestinian territorial waters according to AIS data, but remains out of contact. Marinette, sailing under the Polish flag, is still connected via Starlink and in communication, carrying a total of 6 passengers on board.

The following vessels have been confirmed to be illegally intercepted:
……..

02.10.2025 - 00:15 [ Middle East Eye / Youtube ]

Live: Israel intercepts Global Sumud Flotilla off Gaza coast

Mediterranean Sea – The Global Sumud Flotilla has entered high-alert status as it approaches within 10 nautical miles of the designated high-risk zone off Gaza’s coast. Organisers say all boats are maintaining contact and observing heightened security measures.

02.10.2025 - 00:04 [ Middle East Eye ]

Live: Israel begins unlawful interception of Sumud Flotilla vessels

Meanwhile, Italy and Greece call on Israel….

01.10.2025 - 15:54 [ Al Jazeera ]

Looking back: The Madleen

As the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) nears the Gaza coastline, Al Jazeera takes a look at some of the past flotillas.
The Madleen

The Madleen was launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) on June 9, 2025.

Among the activists on board were Sweden’s Greta Thunberg, Brazil’s Thiago Avila and French MEP Rima Hassan.

All three are also on board this current GSF.
The Madleen was intercepted by the Israeli military about 185km (100 nautical miles) from Gaza, in international waters.

After the interception, activists on the boat were detained by Israel. Some were instantly deported, while others were held in detention before their deportation.

01.10.2025 - 15:46 [ Al Jazeera ]

Looking back: The Handala

As the Global Sumud Flotilla nears the Gaza coastline, Al Jazeera takes a look back at some of the past flotillas.
The Handala

Israeli forces stormed the Gaza-bound flotilla, which was carrying aid to starving Palestinians, on July 26, 2025.

Activists on the Handala came from Australia, France, Iraq, Italy, Morocco, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, the UK and the US.

01.10.2025 - 15:25 [ Amnesty International / X ]

As the Gaza-bound Global Sumud Flotilla – the largest initiative of its kind – is expected to enter a high-risk zone in the Mediterranean where Israeli forces may attempt to intercept it as they did before.

The flotilla, carrying urgently needed food, medicine, and humanitarian supplies, set sail after nearly two years of Israel’s relentless attacks on Gaza and 18 years of an illegal blockade that has left Palestinians in Gaza deliberately starved and deprived of essentials, as part of Israel‘s ongoing unlawful occupation of the Palestinian territory.

The persistent inaction of states in the face of Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip has forced activists from across the world to take peaceful measures to break the siege.

States have a responsibility to guarantee the flotilla’s safe passage. They must step up pressure to protect the flotilla and demand an end of Israel‘s genocide, and of its unlawful blockade once and for all.

01.10.2025 - 15:00 [ Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt / X ]

@gbsumudflotilla: 120nm from Gaza after a night of harassment. If intercepted, delegates will not resist and be abducted. Look at Europe: unable to confront the Mediterranean bully with its navies while ordinary people from 44countries risk everything. Rotten politics killing (Palestine)

01.10.2025 - 14:52 [ France24.com ]

Italian navy to stop assisting Gaza flotilla despite fears of Israeli attack

(September 30, 2025)

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later reiterated her call for flotilla members to immediately stop their mission, warning that a confrontation with Israel could derail diplomatic efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza.

„Many would be happy to disrupt a peace plan pushed by US President Donald Trump, Meloni said in a statement. „I fear that the flotilla‘s attempt to breach the Israeli naval blockade could provide a pretext for this.“