About the interrupted journey of Global Sumud Flotilla
The flotilla, Gaza, and the silence that haunts us
Today, October 2nd of the year 2025, I read the news that Global Sumud Flotilla was intercepted by the IDF, and my heart felt so heavy.
They were not warships. They did not carry weapons, armies. They carried food, medicines, and ordinary people who chose to risk their lives for Gaza. There were certain activists, certain doctors, certain common citizens who believed that there is no option but to raise a voice. They sailed with empathy and valor and were dealt with as an enemy.
I catch myself asking myself every day: when did it become a crime to be compassionate? When did humanitarian aid become contraband? The world seems to have gone topsy-turvy where the bread distributors and medicine dispensers are met with handcuffs while the bombers are met with silence.
This didn’t begin on October 7
I have to remind myself and everyone else that whatever has been happening in Gaza did not just happen on October 7. It did not somehow just magically come about. Gaza has been under siege for decades. For nearly 20 years, it has been “the world’s largest open-air prison.” There are over two million people contained within a narrow strip of land, blocked from freedom of movement, blocked from opportunity, bombed repeatedly into rubble.
Entire generations have been raised who have never known anything but blockade and bombardment. Children in Gaza have spent their whole lives never stepping outside the walls of the siege. Families have been forced out of homes not once, but time after time, as their homes have been bombed away from them time after time. They’re entombed in rubble before they ever get to live freely.
To call this simply a “conflict” does not capture the reality. What is happening is measured, systematic killing. A genocide over decades.
Why the flotilla matters
It was not just about relief. Yes, they delivered food, medicine, and other supplies. But they delivered symbolism. They carry with them the promise that human beings with a good conscience throughout the world will not remain witnesses, will not remain silent.
I thought about all the people on the boats: the activists, the press, the doctors, and the leaders who risked their lives. They were unarmed. They were peaceful. Their only “crime” was to sail towards Gaza with humankind in their pocket.
And yet again, the IDF boarded them, arrested them, gagged them. The same way Israel has tried to silence Gaza for decades.
The irony is bitter: relief by humanitarian means is withheld as weapons by the hundreds of thousands flow into the hands of an occupying force. Solidarity is criminalized, while oppression is normalized.
One of the most chilling updates was when Greta Thunberg, the international climate activist, was among those reportedly being arrested by Israeli soldiers on the ship Alma.
Greta’s involvement in the flotilla highlighted the manner in which movement has drawn world voices of conscience, linking environmental justice with the Palestinian human rights struggles. Her kidnap highlights not only the violent methods employed against peaceful activists but also as a horror story highlighting the danger to which those who take their stand in support of Gaza are subject.
She was not the only one. The Global Sumud Flotilla coordinated an incredible cohort of leading names from around the world:
- Ada Colau, former mayor of Barcelona and respected champion of progressive cause in human rights;
- Mandla Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, carrying on his grandfather’s tradition of opposing apartheid and injustice;
- Mariana Mortágua, a Portuguese MP with a sterling record of campaigning for marginalized communities;
- Thiago Ávila, Brazilian activist with a deep grounding in grassroots movements;
- Liam Cunningham, an Irish actor widely known for his role in Game of Thrones, also been actively speaking out against the genocide;
- Rima Hassan, unapologetic political voice who is willing to campaign for Palestinian rights worldwide.
Along with those who were physically on board, the flotilla also gained solidarity from such cultural figures as Susan Sarandon, Mark Ruffalo, and Bob Vylan, whose public support added more intensity to the cause among wider audiences. The scope and stature of these sponsors highlight that this is not some movement on the margins — it’s a global call to justice with individuals who put their reputations, careers, and, in most cases, their own safety on the line.
Famine by design
Mostly what kills me is the hunger. Gaza is already at catastrophic starvation levels — IPC Phase 5. The United Nations reports that half a million people are literally on the brink of death from hunger. Children are already starving to death and dying from dehydration. Mothers hold babies with nothing to give. Families boil weed to make soup.
I must be absolutely certain of this: this famine is not a natural disaster. It is created. It is the product of purposeful policies to shut down food, water, and supplies. Hunger has been weaponized. Starvation has been used as a weapon of war.
And all of this happening before the entire world. Government reports are transparent. Photos and videos circulate every day. We cannot invoke ignorance. Whether or not we know is not an issue.
An issue is why so many of us prefer not to see.
Silence of governments
Before being gagged, several of the flotilla passengers managed to post short videos, exhorting their governments to act at once. They weren’t asking questions theoretically. They were demanding action, pleading to be rescued, asking their leaders to step in before it was too late.
And I seek the words of world leaders and see almost nothing. Empty clichés, evasive silence.
Where are the governments who claim to protect human rights? Where are the leaders who continuously refer to international law? Where are the guarantees of security to citizens who dared to side with justice?
The silence of governments is deafening. It is almost as savage as the blockade. When politicians substitute inflammatory language with cautious diplomacy, when they choose political consensus over human life, they are co-conspirators in the horror which they will refuse to call atrocity.
And yet I hold a slender hope: that governments will listen, that they will move, that these people will be freed and allowed to complete their journey to Gaza.
I do not know if it will happen. Maybe it is naïve. But I hope anyway. Because that hope is all we have left to hold onto.
My own helplessness
I admit, there are moments when I feel powerless. I am not in those boats. I am not in Gaza. I sit here, watching in the distance, and my only weapon is words. Sometimes I wonder if words are enough. Whether something written or something spoken makes a difference in the face of bombs and hunger.
But then I remember: silence is complicity. To be quiet is to acquiesce. And I will not be quiet. If but a few people will hear my voice, though they be a small voice amidst the din of the world, I would rather speak than hold my tongue.
For it is just silence that enables injustice to occur. Silence that enables governments to look the other way. Silence that legitimizes genocide.
The call we cannot ignore
The flotilla may have been stopped, but the message cannot be muffled. On board those boats was more than food and medicine — there was truth, there was bravery, there was solidarity. And while they were held in detention by the IDF, the idea they represent continues to move, continues to inspire.
I believe it’s our turn now to carry that message forward. We can’t be quiet. We cannot make normal a culture of starvation, bombings, and displacement. We cannot pretend this is just another war when it is genocide.
So I leave you with an ask, and a challenge: speak. Share. Demand. Refuse to look away. If governments won’t, then we, the people, must. We can amplify, we can pressure, we can refuse silence.
Justice cannot be cordoned off. Neither can ours.
Anyway, below are some posts reporting today’s news:
Also, for complete and live updates, you can follow the official Instagram account @globalsumudflotilla
You can also track their boats on their website here: globalsumudflotilla.org/tracker
As I write this, the reports says that there are 30 boats still in the water. I am thinking of them and praying for them, that they will arrive safely in Gaza, that their courage not be met with violence, and that the world not turn away this time.
