Sumud Flotilla 2025: Humanitarian Aid To Gaza Challenges Israel’s Naval Blockade
In the early hours of the beginning of October 2025, the Sumud Flotilla set sail to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, challenging Israel’s naval blockade that has been in place for a long time. The Mediterranean was turned into a dark scenario of confrontation amid the humanitarian vessels and Israel’s naval power. The Global Sumud Flotilla, named after an Arabic word, 'steadfastness', was on a sail to deliver medicines and solidarity to Gaza, but it met with the warships that became the rising day's headlines.
Moreover, the Global Sumud Flotilla is a civilian-led humanitarian maritime initiative to counter Israel’s naval blockades of the Gaza Strip, launched in mid-2025. It is primarily intended to deliver direct aid to the people of Gaza who are facing food shortages and humanitarian distress due to the ongoing war. On 1–2 October 2025, as Israeli naval forces intercepted the Sumud Flotilla, a peaceful movement of vessels, ripples were sent across the globe, and the world appears to be facing a dividing global opinion between those emphasising human urgency and those defending military enforcement.
Moreover, according to Al Jazeera, some of the vessels, including Sirius, Alma, and Adara, were boarded by the Israeli Navy, while one ship, the Mikeno, may have slipped into Gaza, but, unfortunately, contact was lost. Additionally, several activists are reportedly saying that drones, or shadow vessels, were already visible shadowing the convoy. Furthermore, the communication systems of a few vessels were jammed or disrupted, which was noticed earlier but condoned, according to flotilla organisers.
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© The Friday Times
