Global Sumud Flotilla Mission Overview & Timeline

The largest civilian maritime mobilisation for Palestine in history — from Barcelona to the high seas, and the accountability work that continues.

kg of humanitarian aid

intercepted vessels

kidnappings at sea

countries represented

Mission at a Glance

Why the fleet sailed, what it carried, and the architecture of complicity it exposed.

Mission at a Glance

In April 2026, the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail as the largest civilian maritime mobilisation for Palestine in history. From Barcelona, Sicily, and ports across the Mediterranean, volunteers boarded small sailboats, wooden vessels, and modest motorboats to break israel's illegal siege on Gaza.

Doctors, journalists, parliamentarians, lawyers, teachers, human rights defenders all sailed unarmed, in full view of the world, to deliver aid and confront the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people and the complicity that sustains it. They sailed in answer to the Palestinian call for global solidarity, in the shared conviction that everyday people, acting together, can end this genocide.

What the Fleet Carried

The Spring '26 mission set sail with over 11,000 kilograms of humanitarian aid in its hold, almost every category of relief that families in Gaza had been systematically denied under the 19-year illegal israeli siege.

Nutrient-dense food staples to address the man-made famine: rice, legumes, pasta, flour, powdered milk, energy biscuits, dates, nuts. Infant formula for the babies of Gaza, born under bombardment and into starvation.

Medical supplies for a healthcare system the regime has worked to destroy: bandages, burn dressings, paracetamol, oral rehydration salts, water purification tablets.

Hygiene materials: sanitary pads, soap, toothpaste, diapers, baby wipes. And there were the school backpacks. Bags of toys for children. Items packed not only for survival, but for the recovery of childhood itself.

Humanitarian aid loaded for Gaza — food, medical supplies, and childcare essentials — Photos & videos of the aid the fleet carried

We know that this is a drop in the bucket of what Gaza needs. 11,000 kilograms cannot feed two million people. It cannot rebuild a hospital.

But the cargo was never only cargo. Every bag of rice, every box of infant formula, every backpack carried life-saving supplies and the voice of a world that refuses to let Gaza fade from global consciousness. The siege is not a natural disaster. It is a policy. And can be challenged, one act of civilian resistance at a time, by ordinary people who refuse to look away.

Sailing Amid Manufactured Silence

Unlike last year's mission, the Spring '26 flotilla set sail into a manufactured silence. Several months into the so-called "ceasefire,” global attention on Gaza was at its lowest point in two years, even as the siege continued, settler violence escalated across the West Bank, and the "ceasefire" itself was being violated almost every day.

But we don't sail because of trends. We sail because it's the right thing to do. This time, we sailed not only to confront the siege and the complicity that sustains it, but to break the silence and bring Gaza and Palestine back into the headlines.

The Architecture of Complicity

The israeli regime did not act alone. This year exposed, again, the architecture of complicity that makes such violations possible:

The prison boat where the worst violations were committed, the Nahshon, was US-built and US-funded. A US military aircraft originating from RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was airborne over the April 29 interception zone for hours, and UK Royal Air Force radar drones surveilled the flotilla during the May 18 interception from the same British air base. Distress calls from our vessels in both the Greek and Cypriot Search and Rescue zones went unanswered.

Greece, knowing kidnappings were taking place within its own territorial waters, allowed the israeli naval vessel to leave unimpeded with two of our organisers still on board. And throughout the mission, the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and others continued shipping weapons to the regime conducting the genocide and attacking the flotilla. These are some of the most visible examples, but they are far from the whole list.

Statements of condemnation are a starting point, but statements do not dismantle architecture. Sustained action does.

Why We Call Flotilla Interceptions "War Crimes"

Israel had no lawful basis to board, seize, or tow foreign-flagged civilian vessels in international waters. Under Articles 87, 89, and 92 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the high seas are open to all states, no state may subject international waters to its sovereignty, and ships are subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of their flag state. Israel violated all three.

The deliberate obstruction of humanitarian relief to a besieged civilian population constitutes a war crime under Article 8.2(b)(xxv) of the Rome Statute, the same provision underpinning the ICC arrest warrants already issued against Netanyahu and Gallant for starvation as a method of warfare. It also violates Article 23 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which requires the free passage of humanitarian relief consignments, and Article 33, which prohibits collective punishment of a civilian population.

Taken together, and carried out as part of a systematic campaign against multiple civilian humanitarian missions, these acts constitute crimes against humanity.

Read our Mission Legal Analysis

What the Mission Proved

But what this mission also revealed is this: regardless of so-called ceasefires and state repression, regardless of the israeli regime's intention to crush solidarity with the Palestinian people wherever it appears, the free people of the world still stand with Palestine.

Grounded in the steadfast resistance of the Palestinian people, everyday people from all over the world have continued, and will continue, to challenge the systems of impunity and supremacy that sustain the genocide and occupation. We saw coordinated land mobilisations on a scale we have never seen before. We saw 429 participants commit to continuing the mission despite the brutality of the first interception. We saw eleven foreign ministries condemn the attack in a single joint declaration. We saw increased pressure on nations and institutions to act to protect the rights of Palestinian prisoners. We saw Gaza return to the front page of newspapers that had, until April, moved on.

The Voyage Log

A chronological course through the Spring 2026 mission. Tap any waypoint to read the full account.

Launch & movement Legal & political Interception & violence Testimony Release

Apr 12 – 26

Launch & Departure
April 12 · Barcelona Launch

Barcelona Launch

Barcelona became the threshold. At Moll de la Fusta Port on the morning of 12 April, the Global Sumud Flotilla opened the political phase of the largest civilian-led maritime mission in history.
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Barcelona became the threshold. At Moll de la Fusta Port on the morning of 12 April, the Global Sumud Flotilla opened the political phase of the largest civilian-led maritime mission in history to challenge the illegal israeli siege on Gaza.

The launch press conference included Steering Committee members Susan Abdallah, Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri, Sümeyra Akdeniz Ordu, Dr. Maimon Herawati, Saif Abukeshek, and Thiago Ávila were joined on the platform by Eva Saldaña of Greenpeace Spain, Oscar Camps of Open Arms, and Maria Serra of Global Sumud Catalunya. Speakers from Palestine, Lebanon, Indonesia, North Africa, Europe, and global humanitarian networks named what was happening: the lie of de-escalation, the collapse of aid routes, attacks on humanitarian workers, the weaponisation of starvation, and the spread of impunity from Gaza into Lebanon and the West Bank.

Watch the launch press conference — Barcelona, 12 April

The flotilla declared itself a direct civilian intervention against genocide, siege, ecocide, and the global systems that sustain them. Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise and Open Arms entered the active movement phase alongside the civilian fleet. Less than 24 hours earlier, Amnesty International had placed states on notice, demanding safe passage and warning against any repeat of unlawful interceptions.

Land moved with sea. Organisers launched We Rise, a synchronised international campaign of port shutdowns targeting weapons supply chains, public-square cultural interventions, and boycott and divestment escalations, alongside a convoy in North Africa preparing to break the siege by land.

Barcelona was no longer a port of departure. It was the convergence point of political declaration, legal warning, operational readiness, and global mobilisation. The fleet advanced under global watch.

See Greenpeace's GSF Album
April 15 · Barcelona Launch

Fleet Departs

On April 15, 39 boats finally set sail from Barcelona toward Sicily.
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The April 12 departure was delayed by a DANA (Depresión Aislada en Niveles Altos), an intense Mediterranean storm system that produced dangerous sea conditions unsafe for the smaller vessels in the fleet.

On April 15, 39 boats finally set sail from Barcelona toward Sicily.
April 20 · Open Sea Legal & Political

The MSC Maya Disruption

On 20 April, the Global Sumud Flotilla did what no civilian fleet had done before: it disrupted a commercial mega-vessel on the open sea to interrupt the flow of materials feeding the israeli war machine.
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On 20 April, the Global Sumud Flotilla did what no civilian fleet had done before: it disrupted a commercial mega-vessel on the open sea to interrupt the flow of materials feeding the israeli war machine.
Video & photo album: the MSC Maya disruption
The vessel was the MSC Maya, operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company, en route to the ports of Haifa. It was believed to be carrying raw materials destined to supply the israeli military apparatus.

MSC has long maintained a veneer of commercial neutrality, but investigative reports and labour monitors have documented a systematic pattern of transporting high-grade alloy steel, the kind used in heavy artillery, through obscure transshipment routing via ports like Singapore and Abu Qir, while benefiting from vessel-sharing agreements with the israeli regime's national carrier, ZIM. The diversion stripped that anonymity away.

For decades, dockworkers have refused to load weapons bound for unjust wars, using their collective power to halt cargo tied to occupation and genocide. The flotilla took that tradition onto the water and called on people everywhere—on the docks, in the factories, in the streets—to stop these weapons wherever they move.

The message was unmistakable. Commerce does not exist in a moral vacuum. There is no neutrality in the transportation of materials that sustain systems of violence. Where states refuse to act, civilians will put themselves directly in the path of what the world refuses to see.
April 22 · Brussels Legal & Political

The Global Sumud Parliamentary Congress in Brussels

On 22 April, hundreds of parliamentarians, UN experts, legal authorities, and civil society leaders convened in Brussels for the inaugural Global Sumud Parliamentary Congress.
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While the flotilla advanced at sea, the Congress opened its political front on land. On 22 April, hundreds of parliamentarians, UN experts, legal authorities, and civil society leaders convened in Brussels for the inaugural Global Sumud Parliamentary Congress, a coordinated effort to translate international legal obligations into concrete political action.

Speakers included:
- Jeremy Corbyn, UK MP
- Irene Montero, MEP and former Spanish minister
- Manon Aubry, MEP and Co-Chair of The Left
- Rima Hassan, MEP
- Dr Mustafa Barghouti, Palestinian National Initiative leader
- Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food
- Diana Buttu, Palestinian-Canadian lawyer (online)
They were joined by European and Global South parliamentarians, UN Special Rapporteurs on water, sanitation, and the right to development, and international legal authorities.

The Congress addressed Gaza's humanitarian crisis, international legal obligations, and the policy machinery sustaining the siege: arms transfers, accountability mechanisms, humanitarian access. At its centre was the call to establish a humanitarian maritime corridor recognised by the United Nations and grounded in international law.

That call became the Brussels Declaration, adopted that day and signed by over 1,000 people around the world in the first 24 hours.

The Declaration is built on three pillars:
- The right of access: Palestinians' right to freely access their own waters and territory and to receive essential supplies without hindrance
- The right to self-determination: Palestinians' right to lead their own reconstruction and pursuit of justice, free from external imposition
- The rejection of impunity: the refusal to accept the precedent that governments can act without consequence
It asserts that in the face of continued violations of international law and obstructed humanitarian access, a shift from denunciation to action is required, calling for coordinated boycott, labour mobilisation, political pressure, and nonviolent civil disobedience.

Delegates also marched from the Congress to the European Parliament. The flotilla continued sailing, grounded in their mandate.
April 26 · Augusta, Sicily Launch

Sicily Launch

As the Barcelona fleet made its way to Sicily, the Italian fleet moved through a series of ports, combining operational preparation with public mobilisation.
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As the Barcelona fleet made its way to Sicily, the Italian fleet moved through a series of ports including Augusta, Catania, and Castellammare del Golfo, combining operational preparation with public mobilisation: cultural events, media engagements, and meetings with political figures and civil society organisations across the region.

Italy was not incidental to this mission. The previous year's mobilisations had demonstrated the depth of Italian civil society's commitment to Palestinian liberation, from dock workers who refused to load arms shipments to grassroots networks that sustained public pressure across cities and ports. The 2026 launch phase built directly on that foundation, drawing in the same communities, the same unions, and the same organisations whose sustained dedication had made Italy one of the movement's most vital bases of support.

The two fleets converged in Augusta before sailing together from Siracusa on 23 April in a major public launch and press conference. On 26 April, an expanded fleet of 56 vessels set out from Augusta in what represented the largest maritime mobilisation of the campaign to date, marking the beginning of the mission's operational push toward the eastern Mediterranean.
Departure photos & videos: the Sicily launch
Apr 29 – May 4

The First Interception
April 29–30 · 80 nm west of Crete Interception

The First Interception

Right after sunset on 29 April, over 600 nautical miles from Gaza, the unexpected happened.
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Right after sunset on 29 April, over 600 nautical miles from Gaza, the unexpected happened.

It started when two vessels reported VHF jamming. Within five minutes, another vessel was surrounded by low-flying drones. The Global Sumud Flotilla was less than 80 nautical miles west of Crete, in international waters, in the Greek Search and Rescue zone, when the iOF began its all-night illegal operation.

Communications jamming came first. Then drones, swarming low over the boats, sometimes ten metres above deck, blinding crews with bright lights. Then large unlit military vessels closing in from the horizon. Then speedboats launched from the warships, closing fast.

Within minutes, the situation escalated across the fleet. Distress calls went out to the Greek coast guard. VHF communications were jammed, including Channel 16, the international maritime distress frequency. The autopilot on at least one vessel was remotely disabled. In what participants described as a chilling detail, the jamming of Channel 16 was accompanied by the broadcast of a television theme song, apparently to drown out distress calls. Soon, the first of the vessels was being boarded.

Despite distress calls, the Greek coast guard did not come.

The iOF boarded twenty-one civilian vessels flying the flags of Poland, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, and France, all EU member states. Communications were jammed, engines smashed, and participants beaten. Pellets were fired at close range. 181 human rights defenders were abducted, among them doctors, journalists, lawyers, and parliamentarians.

Then they retreated. Boats were left powerless, broken, and adrift, directly in the path of a major forecasted storm. The Tam Tam, sailing under the Spanish flag, was left stranded at sea with its engine maliciously destroyed and seven crew on board before being rescued by Open Arms.

The 181 abducted participants were taken to the INS Nahshon, a US-made ship converted into a makeshift floating prison.

It did not work. Of the 53 vessels sailing the previous day, 31 reached safe waters and immediately began recalibrating to continue. For the first time in the history of the flotillas, an interception didn't stop the mission.
April 30 · Washington, D.C. Legal & Political

The United States and Board of Peace Expose Themselves

On 30 April, the US State Department issued a statement. It did not condemn the attack. It condemned the victims.
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US State Department Condemnation…of the Flotilla

On 30 April, the US State Department issued a statement. It did not condemn the attack. It condemned the victims. Spokesperson Tommy Pigott labelled the flotilla "pro-Hamas" and asserted, without independent verification or inspection, that the mission "has nothing to do with humanitarian aid or the welfare of Gazans."

The statement was not a response to the attack. It was preparation for the next one. By manufacturing a terrorism framing in the same news cycle as the abductions, without evidence or substantiation, the US government provided political cover for the ongoing detention and forced extradition of 181 civilians, including the illegal transfer of two of our organisers to occupied Palestine.

19 House Democrats Response

Within days, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib and 18 House Democrats sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding he rescind the State Department statement's "libelous falsehoods" about the flotilla, calling israel's attack a "grave violation of international law" and demanding "action and accountability from the United States.

The Board of Peace Exposes Its True Mandate

On 30 April, the Board of Peace, the body established by US President Donald Trump to oversee Gaza's so-called "recovery and reconstruction," issued its own response. It did not condemn the attack. It condemned the victims, labelling the flotilla "pro-Hamas" and instructing US allies to deny port access and refuelling to flotilla vessels.

The GSF legal team later named this as evidence of the Board's real function: to convert humanitarian access from a legal obligation into a foreign-administered permission regime. Every statement the Board issues against the flotilla is being documented as evidence of whether it facilitates humanitarian relief or operates as a colonial gatekeeper over Gaza's access and political future. The GSF legal team has called on UN member states to request an ICJ advisory opinion on whether the Security Council may lawfully endorse such a framework.

The Board of Peace demonstrated in a single statement that its mandate is not humanitarian. It is political. And it is aligned, on the record, with the regime carrying out the war crimes it claims to be redressing.
May 1 · Crete Legal & Political

Transferring Participants to Crete

By dawn on 1 May, the INS Nahshon approached the southern coast of Crete carrying 181 abducted civilians who had spent more than 30 hours in detention at sea.
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On 30 April, israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar publicly announced that the abducted participants would be transferred to Greek custody. He added, with the cruelty that has become a signature of the regime's public communications, that they would "continue to watch Gaza on YouTube."

By dawn on 1 May, the INS Nahshon approached the southern coast of Crete carrying 181 abducted civilians. They had spent more than 30 hours in detention at sea: denied adequate food and water, with no access to soap or sanitation, while iOF soldiers deliberately flooded sleeping areas with cold water, inducing the conditions for hypothermia. One in three had entered a hunger strike in protest of the conditions and the illegal nature of their detention.

When iOF soldiers began removing participants from the vessel, they refused to disclose the destination. Civilians did not know if they were being taken to Greek soil, to occupied Palestine, or somewhere else entirely. Six participants were being held in solitary confinement, separated from the rest. Those on board collectively refused to leave without them. In an act of unarmed, nonviolent resistance, participants insisted that no one would disembark until there was confirmation that everyone would leave together.

The israeli response was brutality and violence. Soldiers escalated against the detainees on board. By the time the disembarkation concluded, 34 civilians had been injured severely enough to require hospital treatment: broken noses, broken ribs, other fractures, injuries from rubber bullets fired at close range.

The handover itself was coordinated by the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, executed by the Hellenic Coast Guard, the National Defence General Staff, and the Region of Crete. 179 civilians disembarked at the port of Atherinolakkos. 34 were transferred to the General Hospital of Sitia. The rest were bussed inland toward Heraklion International Airport.

Greek Participation in the Kidnapping of Saif & Thiago

What the Greek state would prefer the record forgot is this: the Hellenic Coast Guard knew. Multiple participants told them directly. The foreign ministry representative was told too. Two participants had not been transferred. Saif Abukeshek (Spanish and Swedish passport holder of Palestinian origin) and Thiago Ávila (Brazilian passport holder) remained on board the israeli occupation naval vessel in Greek territorial waters. Greek authorities allowed the ship to leave with them still aboard. The israeli occupation navy carried Saif and Thiago directly to occupied Palestine, where they were transferred to Shikma Prison in Askalan.

For most of the day, the released participants remained in de facto Greek custody, without access to phones, food, or adequate medical attention. The state framed it as a humanitarian operation. The record reads otherwise. Greece did not just receive the survivors. It actively enabled the abduction of two of them.
Apr 30 – May 10 · Worldwide Legal & Political

The World Mobilises: Condemnations and the Fight for Saif and Thiago

Within hours of the first interception, the world responded. By 30 April, more than 200 land mobilisations had erupted globally.
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Within hours of the first interception, the world responded. By 30 April, more than 200 land mobilisations had erupted globally, from major capital cities to port towns. In Italy alone, over 40 direct actions were planned within a single day. Streets filled in answer to the impunity of the high seas.

Spanish PM Sánchez's speech on the flotilla

The diplomatic response followed quickly. Brazil and Spain issued a joint statement condemning the kidnapping of their citizens in international waters. They were soon joined by an 11-nation coalition—Foreign Ministers from Spain, Türkiye, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Jordan, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Pakistan, and South Africa—describing the seizure as a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law. The Turkish Parliament unanimously adopted a motion defining the interception as piracy and a war crime.

The legal architecture moved in parallel. Italian lawyers filed two criminal complaints with the Rome prosecutor and lodged an urgent request for interim measures before the European Court of Human Rights. Active criminal proceedings opened in over twenty jurisdictions. Arrest warrants were issued for 37 high-ranking israeli officials.

Amnesty International demanded the immediate, unconditional release of all detainees and named Saif Abukeshek specifically, warning he faced "great risk" of torture and human rights abuses, consistent with israel's discriminatory laws and persistent record of harassment and oppression of Palestinians. The European Left Party, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), FIDH, and OMCT denounced the raid as piracy and demanded EU sanctions.

On the streets, the pressure did not ease. From 30 April through 10 May, mobilisations continued daily across Europe, Latin America, North Africa, and beyond. Encampments. Marches. Direct actions targeting weapons supply chains.

The chant carried in countless languages: Free Saif. Free Thiago. Free Palestine.
May 4 · Rome Legal & Political

The Italian Move for Justice

On 4 May, the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office opened a formal criminal investigation into the israeli attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla.
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On 4 May, the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office opened a formal criminal investigation into the israeli attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla. The jurisdictional basis was direct: Saif Abukeshek had been transferred to the Italian-flagged vessel Eros 1 before being forcibly removed by israeli occupation navy personnel in international waters. The flag established Italian jurisdiction. Three formal complaints triggered the investigation. Two concerned Saif and Thiago specifically. Charges against israeli military forces included kidnapping, robbery, and damage causing risk of shipwreck. Prosecutors confirmed they would issue a letter rogatory as part of the inquiry.

The investigation was led by prosecutors Lucia Lotti and Stefano Opilio and is currently directed against unknown persons. It is not the first. The Rome prosecutor's office had previously opened a similar investigation following the 2025 flotilla interception. Two interceptions, one prosecutorial trajectory.

The Spring '26 investigation expanded the scope of charges to include kidnapping, torture, and sexual assault.
May 8 – 15

Regroup at Marmaris
May 8 · Crete → Marmaris Launch

Sailing to Marmaris

On 8 May, more than 30 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla lifted anchor from Crete and set course for Marmaris, Türkiye.
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On 8 May, more than 30 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla lifted anchor from Crete and set course for Marmaris, Türkiye.

The decision to sail was not made lightly. It was not made in defiance of grief, but through it.

One thing was clear: we needed to regroup. We needed to take stock of what the iOF had done, what the fleet had endured, and what the mission required. Marmaris was where the movement could breathe long enough to decide what came next.

Arctic Sunrise Concludes Its Mission

The day of departure, Greenpeace's Arctic Sunrise concluded its support of the mission and departed for its next global campaign. From the docks of Sicily to the open sea, the Arctic Sunrise crew had executed over 50 technical operations across 25 ships, fortified the communication infrastructure that carried the flotilla's voice to the world, and acted as one of the primary emergency responders after the April 29 interception, stabilising the fleet and restoring the power, water, and spirit required to continue. The mission carried forward with Open Arms still alongside, and with the steadfastness Greenpeace had helped build now part of the fleet's own infrastructure.

The departure from Crete was deliberate. The fleet remained intact. The mission remained the same. Representatives from over 50 countries would soon gather in Marmaris for a legal symposium and general assembly on May 10 and 11, where the strategic plan for the next phase would be finalised.

The occupation may steal our boats, our belongings, and our loved ones. It cannot steal the horizon.

The fleet sailed to Marmaris to regroup, and then to decide.
May 10 · Barcelona / São Paulo Release

Saif and Thiago's Release

On 10 May, after more than ten days of illegal detention, sensory torture, death threats, and hunger strike, Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila were released.
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On 10 May, and after more than ten days of illegal detention, sensory torture, death threats, and hunger strike, Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila were released.

Saif travelled through Athens and arrived in Barcelona that afternoon, where he reunited with his wife and children.

Saif's arrival in Barcelona after his release

Thiago crossed the Taba border out of occupied Palestine and continued on to Brazil, reaching São Paulo. He came home to his wife and child. He also came home to grieve, as his mother had passed while he was in illegal detention.

Thiago's arrival in São Paulo after his release

Both men, within hours of returning, faced the press. In Barcelona, Saif and the GSF Catalonia team held a press conference detailing the ten days he had been forcibly disappeared: the dry hunger strike, the high-intensity 24-hour lighting, the prolonged stress positions, the death threats against his family, the politically motivated allegations made without charge or evidence by a regime operating thousands of kilometres outside its jurisdiction. He also announced that the following day that he would soon be departing for Marmaris to reunite with the fleet and the movement.

In São Paulo, Thiago did the same, recounting the parallel pattern of psychological torture, environmental abuse, and explicit threats from israeli interrogators that he would be "killed" or forced to "spend 100 years in jail."

Watch Thiago's press conference

What both men also made clear: across more than ten days of detention, with interrogation sessions lasting upwards of 18 continuous hours at a time, the israeli regime produced no evidence to support a single one of the accusations levelled against them.

The "evidence" the regime used to justify continued detention was sealed from both the activists and their lawyers, described by their legal team as "unlawful and unreasonable." The accusations had never been about facts. They had been about politically punishing solidarity with the Palestinian people and attempting to manufacture a public justification for an attack the regime had already carried out.

The release was clear evidence for the power of public pressure. The Global Sumud Flotilla named it as such. And the same day, in the same breath, it named what release does not change.

Release is not freedom. Saif and Thiago returned home while over 9,500 Palestinian men, women, and children remained unjustly detained in israeli regime prisons, subjected to the same system our comrades had endured for ten days, and that Palestinians have endured for decades.

The work continues.
May 10 · Marmaris Legal & Political

The Legal Symposium in Marmaris

On May 10, international legal experts gathered at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University to finalize a global accountability strategy following the attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla.
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On May 10, international legal experts gathered at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University for the International Conference on Gaza, International Law & Civil Resistance to finalize a global accountability strategy following the attack on the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters. Representatives from more than 50 countries examined the Gaza blockade, humanitarian access, state responsibility, and pathways to accountability.

The conference treated the April 29 interception not as an isolated incident, but as evidence within a broader pattern of unlawful actions against civilian maritime missions. Participants developed a three-part strategy: advancing criminal proceedings in national jurisdictions, pursuing cases before the International Criminal Court, and seeking sanctions and reparations for harms committed against both Palestinians and flotilla participants.

Central to the strategy was the principle that civilian maritime missions are protected under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The flotilla was reframed not only as a mission to challenge the siege, but as a body of evidence—including testimony, medical records, vessel logs, and eyewitness accounts—that will continue moving through legal and international accountability mechanisms for years to come.

What was intended as intimidation became documentation.

Watch the legal symposium livestream — Marmaris
May 11 · Marmaris Legal & Political

The General Assembly in Marmaris

The day after the legal symposium, the Global Sumud Flotilla convened its General Assembly in Marmaris on 11 May.
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The day after the legal symposium, the Global Sumud Flotilla convened its General Assembly in Marmaris on 11 May. Representatives from over fifty countries gathered: participants, organisers, partners, and international allies. The fleet had regrouped. Saif and Thiago had just been released. The question on the table was what came next.

The day before, participants had received the updated risk and impact assessments produced by the legal, security, and operations teams. The materials were circulated in advance so that boats could discuss them internally, raise concerns, and arrive at the General Assembly informed and prepared.

As discussions continued throughout the day, the collective position emerged. The abductions, designed to intimidate and paralyse, had only strengthened global resolve. The mission remained anchored in its commitment to stand with the Palestinian people in their pursuit of liberation. This was where that resolve hardened into action.

By the end of the day, the next phase had a shape. The assembly closed with the decision that the flotilla would sail on. The fleet would regroup as 54 vessels carrying nearly 500 participants from 45 countries and join forces with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition for the final leg to Gaza.

Marmaris was where the movement caught its breath. Then it sailed.

The decision was announced at a press conference on 12 May, joined by the newly released Saif Abukeshek and Thiago Ávila, who participated virtually.

The Mission's Next Phase — Marmaris press conference

Open Arms Concludes its Mission to Support

That same week, Open Arms also concluded its support of the mission. The Spanish search and rescue vessel had been with the fleet from the beginning, providing technical expertise and serving as the mission's medical hub at sea. After the April 29 interception, Open Arms acted as one of the fleet's primary emergency responders, alongside the Arctic Sunrise, stabilising vessels and tending to survivors as they arrived. The mission would now carry forward without its dedicated SAR vessel, but with the operational foundation Open Arms had helped build.
May 14 · Marmaris Launch

The Marmaris Launch

On 14 May, on the eve of Nakba Day, the Global Sumud Flotilla lifted anchor from the port of Marmaris and set course for Gaza.
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On 14 May, on the eve of Nakba Day, the Global Sumud Flotilla lifted anchor from the port of Marmaris and set course for Gaza. 54 boats. Nearly 500 participants from 45 countries. The largest coordinated civilian maritime departure of the mission.
Photos & videos: the Marmaris launch
The day before, from the same port, the flotilla had issued a definitive declaration: the nonviolent mission to break israel's illegal siege of Gaza would proceed.

The legal team placed the international community on formal notice. The siege of Gaza is not a lawful maritime blockade but an engine of genocide and a prohibited form of collective punishment. The fleet sailed under the principle that civilian vessels carrying humanitarian aid have a lawful right to passage, and that any state or individual who attempted to obstruct it would face documented prosecution. Arrest warrants had already been issued for 37 high-ranking officials. Active investigations were moving in over twenty countries.

The mission was no longer only a flotilla. It was a moving body of law.
May 15 · Libya Launch

The Overland Convoy Launches from Libya

As the maritime mission advanced from Türkiye, a parallel land convoy began moving across North Africa.
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As the maritime mission advanced from Türkiye, a parallel land convoy began moving across North Africa.

Launched on Nakba Day in Libya, the convoy included ambulances, mobile homes, aid vehicles, and participants from more than twenty countries. Doctors, nurses, engineers, educators, lawyers, and humanitarian volunteers joined the effort.

Organisers described the convoy as the land-based counterpart to the flotilla. Together, the two missions sought to create simultaneous pressure through different routes toward Gaza.

Public events held in Libya emphasised the humanitarian goals of the convoy while highlighting its symbolic connection to wider international solidarity efforts. Speakers frequently referenced historical liberation struggles and the role of civil society in challenging government inaction.

The convoy's composition reflected broader ambitions than aid delivery alone. Participants envisioned supporting medical care, education, reconstruction, and humanitarian assistance should access become possible.
May 18 – 21

The Second Interception
May 18–19 · Cypriot SAR zone Interception

The Second Illegal Interception

In the morning of 18 May, the Global Sumud Flotilla was in international waters within the Cypriot Search and Rescue zone, 250 nautical miles from Gaza, when four iOF military vessels began closing in.
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In the morning of 18 May, four days after lifting anchor from Marmaris, the Global Sumud Flotilla was in international waters within the Cypriot Search and Rescue zone, 250 nautical miles from Gaza, when four iOF military vessels emerged on the horizon and began closing in from all directions.

Among them was the Nahshon, the same prison ship that had carried nearly two hundred abducted participants twenty days earlier. Sailing in formation alongside GSF and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition were 50 boats, mostly small sailing vessels, carrying 429 participants from 44 countries.

The violence escalated through both days. At least six boats, including Kyriakos, Munki, Alcyone, Elengi, Zefiro, and Girolama, were fired upon with what is now believed to be either rubber bullets or bean bag rounds. Girolama, after pleading "Why are you shooting? We are unarmed," was struck with bullets hitting the rails and life ring while participants ducked face-down on the deck.

On the evening of 19 May, the Sirius was rammed by an iOF military vessel, vessel number A833D, after being soaked with water cannons. Footage shows the iOF vessel using its wake to try to stop the Sirius, then approaching directly and striking the boom and bow. The collision was confirmed on camera.

The iOF did not just intercept. It sabotaged. Search and rescue operations by non-intercepted vessels Wave Song and Kasr Sadabad found the abandoned boats deliberately destroyed: sails ripped, water supplies tampered with, lower decks intentionally flooded with seawater. The Kyriakos sank. Amanda, Sadabad, and Furleto were found abandoned and destroyed.

By the evening of 18 May, 40 vessels had been confirmed intercepted within the Cypriot SAR zone. Cyprus did not respond. The Cypriot coast guard, like the Hellenic Coast Guard before it, declined to fulfil its legal obligations under the very Search and Rescue framework the interception had violated.

The remaining ten vessels continued sailing through the night, evading drones, GPS spoofing, and surveillance from a Royal Air Force radar drone operating out of RAF Akrotiri. On 19 May, the second day of the interception, the iOF caught the rest.

Ten more interceptions took place within the Egyptian Search and Rescue zone on 19 May. Egypt did not respond either.

By the end of 19 May, and after more than 30 hours of illegal interceptions, all fifty vessels had been seized. 429 participants from 45 countries were aboard two prison ships, en route to Ashdod port in occupied Palestine. The flotilla had been carrying over 11,000 kilograms of verified humanitarian aid: rice, legumes, infant formula, baby care, medical supplies, water purification tablets, hygiene products, relief that families in Gaza had been systematically denied for nineteen months.

This was no longer a humanitarian or international incident. It was a war crime committed in international waters, in the SAR zones of two European-adjacent states, against an unarmed civilian mission operating under international law. The Foreign Ministers of Türkiye, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Jordan, Libya, Maldives, Pakistan, and Spain issued a joint declaration condemning it as a flagrant violation of international and humanitarian law. Türkiye formally characterised the interception as an act of piracy under UNCLOS Article 101.
May 19–20 · At sea → Ashdod Interception

From Interception to Ashdod: A Journey of Horror

Once boarded, participants were held in stress positions on anti-skid decks, then transferred to makeshift prison vessels where systematic violence was inflicted.
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Once boarded, many participants were moved by RHIB to larger iOF naval vessels and held under armed guard in stress positions on anti-skid decks: kneeling, hands bound, head down, on metal grating designed to grip the feet of soldiers in combat.

From there, they were transferred again, this time to one of two makeshift prison vessels. One was confirmed as the INS Nahshon, the US-built, US-funded landing craft that participants would come to call the “torture boat.” A makeshift prison had been constructed on board using barbed wire and metal shipping containers. Participants were processed one by one, taken into darkened containers, and subjected to systematic physical and sexual violence by iOF soldiers.

The second prison vessel has not yet been independently identified but is believed to be Nahshon’s sister vessel INS Komemiyut.

Both ships carried 429 abducted civilians to occupied Palestine. The conditions on board included systematic sexual violence, abuse, and torture.
May 20 · At sea Testimony

A Doctor's Testimony of the "Torture Boat"

Jihan, a Malaysian doctor and GSF medic, was on board for the second interception. She had been intercepted before, in April. The second time, she said, was worse.
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Jihan, a Malaysian doctor and GSF medic, was on board for the second interception. She had been intercepted before, in April. The second time, she said, was worse.

"Everyone in the boat was hit, was kicked, was punched. No one left. Even the 73-year-old participant got punched."

The medical bag she had brought on board was confiscated by the iOF. Across the boat, she observed approximately 35 participants with fractures, including rib fractures, shoulder dislocations, and humerus fractures. Five had head injuries, multiple with concussions. One participant had a severe eye injury. Another had a severe ear injury. Two participants were injected with an unknown substance and went drowsy soon after. Hijabs were removed aggressively from Muslim women. Multiple cases of sexual assault were reported.

The only medication available across the entire boat was a single 15ml bottle of lorazepam belonging to one participant. Jihan and her fellow medic shared a few drops at a time with as many people as they could, not for pain relief, but for comfort. For fractures, they used clothing as splints and plastic bags as bandages.

What Jihan described as the worst feeling of her life was not what was done to her. It was being a doctor on a boat full of injured people with nothing to give them.

"This was what happened to all the Palestinians till now, from years ago till now. They suffer every day. I think it's only like 1%, 2% of what we have been suffering, we have experienced. They suffer more than us. We have this opportunity to voice out all these sufferings and make sure the world hears what they are suffering."
May 20 · Ashdod Interception

Arrival to Ashdod

On 20 May, israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published video from inside the holding facility at Ashdod port.
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The Ben Gvir Video

On 20 May, after 429 abducted civilians had been delivered to the port of Ashdod in occupied Palestine, israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published video from inside the holding facility. The footage showed dozens of unarmed civilians, hands zip-tied behind their backs, foreheads pressed to the ground, kneeling in rows while the israeli national anthem blared over loudspeakers. Ben-Gvir, surrounded by armed security personnel, waved an israeli flag and weaved through the kneeling detainees, shouting "Welcome to Israel! We are in charge here!" and instructing the guards "not to be bothered by their screams" as a woman could be heard crying out in the background. Three of the detainees in the room would later be hospitalised as a result of israeli violence.

The international condemnation was immediate. Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Canada summoned israeli ambassadors. The foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, the UAE, Türkiye, Indonesia, and Pakistan jointly condemned the actions as "a disgraceful assault on human dignity." Even Netanyahu publicly rebuked the cabinet minister he himself had appointed.

We are grateful for every voice raised. But the condemnations are not enough. What Ben-Gvir filmed was not an anomaly. It was a glimpse of what Palestinians have endured at israeli checkpoints and in israeli detention facilities for decades, some of it filmed by him personally. The only difference on 20 May was that the people on their knees held passports the world recognises. Selective outrage is its own form of complicity. The system his video exposed will not be dismantled by ambassadorial summons. It will be dismantled by sustained structural action: arms embargoes, trade restrictions, and accountability for the regime and the governments that sustain it.

A Maori Man's Account of Being Singled Out & Tortured for 2 Hours at Ashdod

For the participants forced off the Nahshon at Ashdod port, the violence did not end at sea. It continued, methodically, on dry land.

One participant, Hahona, an indigenous Māori teacher from Aotearoa New Zealand, was zip-tied, walked off the boat, and brought into a large tent where dozens of detainees were already on their knees with their foreheads pressed to the ground. From the moment a single iOF soldier was assigned to him, the brutality became personal. The soldier pulled down his mask and looked him in the eye. "Look into my eyes," he said. "I'm a crazy motherfucker. And I'm going to hurt you every minute I'm with you."

He kept his word. The participant was slammed into walls until he lost consciousness and woke being dragged across the floor. He was kicked repeatedly in the kidneys, punched in the stomach when he asked the soldier to repeat a question, and punched again when he could not answer. His wrists were bound with cable ties that the soldier stepped on and pulled tight, cutting into the skin. He still cannot feel his thumb or the top of his hand. He was threatened with electrocution to the genitals. Across the maze of processing tables, the soldier promised, again: "I'm going to break your bones like chicken bones."

By the time he was placed in handcuffs for the bus ride to Ketziot Prison, he was passing blood in his urine.

What was done to him at Ashdod was not an interrogation. It was a performance of cruelty by a state that wanted its captives to know, on the record, exactly what it was willing to do to unarmed civilians.
May 21 · Istanbul Legal & Political

Deportation to Istanbul

On 21 May, 428 of the 429 civilians abducted from the Global Sumud Flotilla and Freedom Flotilla Coalition were deported to Istanbul aboard three planes.
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Following the Ben-Gvir video and mounting international condemnation, the israeli regime announced the deportation of the abducted participants. On 21 May, 428 of the 429 civilians abducted from the Global Sumud Flotilla and Freedom Flotilla Coalition were deported to Istanbul aboard three planes coordinated with the Turkish government. One participant, holding dual israeli and German nationality, was held back for further legal proceedings.

Global Sumud participants arrive in Istanbul

In Istanbul, participants were received by Turkish authorities, medical teams, and GSF coordinators. From there, the deported continued onward to their home countries, carrying with them the testimony, medical records, and direct experience that would become evidence in the criminal proceedings already advancing in over thirty jurisdictions.

GSF arrival press conference — May 21, 2026
May 22 – onward

Aftermath & Accountability
May 22–26 · Worldwide Testimony

Survivor Testimony and International Fallout

Participants gradually returned to their home countries or remained in Türkiye for medical treatment and recovery.
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Participants gradually returned to their home countries or remained in Türkiye for medical treatment and recovery.

As survivors began speaking publicly, extensive testimony emerged regarding their experiences during detention. Participants described injuries, medical complications, psychological trauma, and various forms of mistreatment. Medical assessments documented fractures, head injuries, collapsed lung, and other significant health impacts among some participants.

Public testimony became a major focus of the campaign during this period. Organisers sought to document survivor accounts and preserve evidence for future legal proceedings. Participants from multiple countries provided interviews and written statements describing their experiences.

The period also saw controversy following an incident at Bilbao Airport involving returning flotilla participants and local police. The incident generated additional media coverage and further broadened discussions about the treatment of activists involved in the mission.

By late May, the campaign's focus had shifted substantially from maritime operations toward documentation, testimony, medical recovery, and accountability efforts. Survivor narratives became central to how the mission was understood and discussed internationally. They also became central to a broader purpose: drawing the world's attention to the nearly 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners held in israeli detention, who endure every day what our participants experienced over the course of days.

Watch Suza's testimony here.

Watch Ariadne's testimony here.

Watch Arno's testimony here.

Watch Alonso's testimony here.

Watch Salwa's testimony here.

Watch Maria's testimony here.
May 26 · Bilbao Interception

Bilbao Airport

Days after returning from israeli detention, flotilla survivors were attacked again. This time on home soil.
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Days after returning from israeli detention, flotilla survivors were attacked again. This time on home soil.

On 23 May, GSF participants landed at Bilbao Airport still bearing injuries from israeli captivity. When a family member crossed a barrier to embrace their loved ones, the Ertzaintza, the Basque autonomous police, responded with violence. Survivors were beaten with batons. At least four people, including three flotilla participants, were arrested. One participant, hospitalised days earlier with broken ribs, threw himself over a fellow survivor to absorb the blows.

As GSF participant Javi Aparente noted, recognising the tactics: "It's chilling to see how the knee placed down on our volunteer's head was done exactly the same way the iOF used to immobilise us."

This was not coincidence. The Ertzaintza maintains documented procurement and tactical training contracts with israeli private security firms led by former military and intelligence operatives. The violence at Bilbao Airport was not local mismanagement. It was the same doctrine, applied by different uniforms.
May 25 · Alexandria, Egypt Aftermath

GSF Vessel Washes Up in Alexandria

On 25 May, a week after the second interception, a small boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla washed ashore in Alexandria, Egypt, still carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza.
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On 25 May, a week after the second interception, a small boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla washed ashore in Alexandria, Egypt. It was still carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza. The boat had been abandoned at sea after the iOF interception in international waters and drifted south, undelivered. The cargo it carried, the same supplies israel had seized along with the participants, washed up on Egyptian sand within days of the State Department's claim that the flotilla "had nothing to do with humanitarian aid." The boat answered that lie before any government did.
Late May · Sirte, Libya Aftermath

Sirte and the End of the Land Convoy

While attention remained focused on events at sea, the land convoy encountered mounting obstacles in Libya.
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While attention remained focused on events at sea, the land convoy encountered mounting obstacles in Libya.

Organisers spent weeks seeking permits and negotiating passage with various authorities. Correspondence with Libyan institutions emphasised the humanitarian nature of the convoy and requested safe passage toward the Egyptian border.

Tensions increased near Sirte as disagreements emerged over conditions for continued travel. Organisers proposed transferring humanitarian aid through the Libyan Red Crescent while maintaining a limited humanitarian presence among convoy participants.

On May 24, a delegation attempting to negotiate passage was detained after meeting with eastern Libyan authorities. Communication with the group was reportedly lost before authorities later confirmed their detention.

The detention of negotiators became the defining event of the convoy's final phase. With aid delivery stalled and participants unable to secure passage, organizers announced the conclusion of the overland mission. Eleven volunteers from the convoy remained in Libyan custody after the mission formally concluded.

Although the convoy did not reach Gaza, supporters argued that it succeeded in building regional solidarity networks and drawing attention to obstacles facing humanitarian initiatives.

Free the Land Convoy Volunteers
Ongoing · Courtrooms & parliaments Legal & Political

Accountability and Legacy

The Spring 2026 mission did not end with the last interception. It extended into every courtroom, every parliament, and every street where its participants carried their testimony home.
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The Spring 2026 mission did not end with the last interception. It extended into every courtroom, every parliament, and every street where its participants carried their testimony home.

Legal representatives, survivors, medical personnel, and supporting organisations submitted documentation to the International Criminal Court concerning the interceptions, the conditions of detention, the documented torture and sexual violence, and the deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid. The submission marked a transition in form, not in purpose. The direct action was over. The accountability work had only just begun.

By the end of May, the physical operations of the Spring 2026 mission had concluded. The legal, political, and documentary dimensions had not. Criminal proceedings were advancing in over thirty jurisdictions. Arrest warrants had been issued. Survivors were testifying. The evidence gathered throughout the mission, participant accounts, medical records, vessel logs, footage, and legal analyses, was moving through the mechanisms that will define the historical and legal record of what the israeli regime did in international waters in the spring of 2026.

The Spring 2026 Global Sumud mission became the largest coordinated civilian maritime mobilisation for Palestine in history. It will be remembered not only for what it attempted, but for what it documented, and for what that documentation demands.
Reflection Aftermath

A Regime Losing Its Grip

This year's mission encountered brutality, violence, and impunity that exceeded the previous year's. Two truths sit underneath it.
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This year's mission encountered brutality, violence, and impunity that exceeded the previous year's. Two truths sit underneath it.

The regime is losing the long arc. ICC arrest warrants have been issued. Genocide proceedings are advancing. Public opinion has turned against it in every region of the world.

The regime is also operating with the confidence that comes from three years of broadcasted genocide without consequence. Every red line has been crossed, and no government has imposed a meaningful cost.

From the unexpected interception 1,000 kilometres from Gaza off the coast of Crete, to the sexual violence perpetrated against our volunteers on a floating prison, to the kidnapping and forced extradition of two of our organisers, to the ramming of civilian sailing boats with water cannons and warships, every tactic was at once a confession of desperation and a demonstration of impunity.

The regime lashes out because it is losing. It lashes out because it knows it will face no real cost.

The work continues.

Release is not freedom. The accountability work has only just begun — in every courtroom, every parliament, and every street where participants carried their testimony home.