‘This Barbarity Must End’
Participants hold a banner reading “Palestine will live” during
a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinians and to
condemn the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla by the
Israeli army, in Paris on Oct. 2.Stephanie de Sakutin/AFP via
Getty Images
Israeli forces on Friday boarded the final vessel in a 44-ship humanitarian aid flotilla that was trying to deliver vital supplies to Gaza. Capturing the Polish-flagged Marinette marked the end of a tense two-day naval operation by Israel to stop hundreds of activists from attempting to break through its blockade of the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, all 461 detained activists with the Global Sumud Flotilla are “safe and in good health” and are preparing to be deported.
Although Israel maintains that the volunteers were trying to “breach a lawful naval blockade,” foreign governments and rights activists have condemned the country for endangering civilian lives in Gaza by preventing aid from entering the war-torn territory. “This barbarity must end,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said. “Peace must be given a chance, and humanitarian aid must reach those in need.”
People from at least 44 countries participated in the flotilla. In light of Israel’s actions, Colombian President Gustavo Petro expelled Israeli diplomats from Bogotá and canceled the two nations’ free trade agreement; Turkey’s Foreign Ministry condemned the intervention as an “act of terrorism” that violates international law; and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa demanded that “the life-saving cargo transported by this flotilla reaches the people of Gaza,” adding that the fleet “represents solidarity with Gaza, not confrontation with Israel.”
The International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza, a Palestinian initiative established in 2009 to mobilize the international community to try and end the blockade, said on Friday that several detainees have “entered an open-ended hunger strike from the moment of their detention” to protest their capture. And Reporters Without Borders denounced Israel’s detention of the more than 20 journalists who were on board. “Arresting journalists and preventing them from doing their work is a serious violation of the right to inform and be informed,” said Martin Roux, the head of the group’s crisis desk.
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupted across Western Europe in response to the flotilla’s seizure, with some protesters vandalizing shops and restaurants. However, these countries’ governments issued a more muted response. Several nations—including Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Spain, and the United Kingdom—centered their condemnation on their citizens’ detentions rather than calling out Israel for preventing aid from entering Gaza.
“Shame on Western governments first and foremost, and their complicit inaction,” Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on Palestine, wrote on X. The United Nations itself has not issued a public comment on the Global Sumud Flotilla.
A new flotilla of 11 ships, carrying medics and journalists, embarked for Gaza on Friday in another attempt to challenge Israel’s naval blockade.
In the meantime, war continues to rage in Gaza. U.S. President Donald Trump has given Hamas until Sunday to accept his peace plan, which would include the release of all Hamas-held hostages in exchange for thousands of Palestinian prisoners, create an international transitional body to help govern Gaza, and allow aid to enter the territory unimpeded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accepted the proposal earlier this week.
“If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas,” Trump warned on Truth Social on Friday. “THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”
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