In a daring display of international solidarity and defiance, the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) is currently making its way across the Mediterranean, aiming to break Israel’s long-standing naval blockade of Gaza. As of September 24, 2025, the flotilla—comprising about 35 boats and ships with approximately 350 activists hailing from nearly 50 countries—has reached Greek territorial waters near Crete. Organizers estimate that, barring unforeseen obstacles, the convoy will arrive off the coast of Gaza within six days, around September 30 or October 1.
This ambitious maritime mission, as reported by Ahlulbayt News Agency and The Times of Israel, represents the largest civilian effort yet to challenge Israel’s 18-year siege on the Gaza Strip. The GSF is carrying around 250 tons of desperately needed aid, intended to help alleviate a humanitarian crisis that has seen at least 442 Palestinians die from famine, according to the flotilla’s organizers.
But the journey has not been without peril. For three consecutive nights leading up to September 24, unidentified drones hovered ominously over the flotilla’s ships—a move that organizers have condemned as an attempt to intimidate and discredit their mission. These incidents echo earlier attacks in Tunisia, where two vessels were reportedly struck by Israeli drones in the port of Sidi Bou Said. Israel has not commented publicly on these attacks.
French parliamentarian François Piquemal, who joined the flotilla, did not mince words in an interview with Anadolu Agency. “This is a purely civilian and humanitarian initiative,” he said, emphasizing the diverse makeup of the mission, which includes doctors, aid workers, politicians, journalists, and artists. Piquemal accused Israel of systematically smearing anyone who speaks out against what he described as genocide in Gaza. “These accusations are the usual tactics of a state committing genocide. Even Pope Francis was recently labeled anti-Semitic. Such rhetoric is meant to distract from the reality of terror.” He added, “Participants in this flotilla refuse to stand by and simply watch Gaza starve. They are acting because the international community has failed.”
The flotilla’s organizers have been adamant that their efforts are both civilian and peaceful, asserting that delivering aid by sea to Gaza is a protected right under international law. They have denounced Israel’s threats against the convoy, calling them illegal attempts to maintain a blockade that has, in their words, plunged 2.4 million Palestinians into starvation.
Since March 2, 2025, Israel has sealed all Gaza crossings, barring food and aid trucks except for extremely limited assistance, which organizers argue falls far short of meeting even the minimum survival needs of Gaza’s population. Reports from the region claim that many aid trucks have been looted by gangs allegedly protected by the Israeli army. The toll of the ongoing conflict is staggering: more than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 166,000 wounded since October 7, 2023, according to Ahlulbayt News Agency.
Yet, as the flotilla presses forward, legal and ethical questions swirl around the legitimacy of Israel’s blockade and the right of the GSF to challenge it. Israel officially declared its naval blockade in January 2009, during Operation Cast Lead, as a means of restricting Hamas’s ability to smuggle weapons into Gaza. The blockade has been rigorously enforced ever since, with Israel intercepting multiple attempts to breach it—including the infamous 2010 Mavi Marmara incident, where 10 Turkish activists were killed in a confrontation with Israeli commandos.
Dr. Eran Shamir-Borer, director of the Israel Democracy Institute’s Center for National Security and Democracy and a former head of the IDF’s International Law Department, told The Times of Israel that naval blockades are a common and accepted military tool. He pointed to the San Remo Manual on naval warfare and the London Declaration of 1909, both of which outline the conditions under which blockades are considered lawful. According to Shamir-Borer, Israel has met these conditions. One crucial stipulation is that a blockade cannot be imposed solely to starve a civilian population. If the territory lacks sufficient food, the blockading party must allow the free passage of essential supplies.
Israel contends that its facilitation of aid through land crossings into Gaza undermines accusations of deliberate starvation. In the week preceding September 24, 2025, 736 humanitarian aid trucks carrying 14,125 tons of aid—86 percent of it food—entered Gaza through Israeli-controlled border crossings. Israel’s COGAT, the agency responsible for coordinating humanitarian aid, reported facilitating the delivery of some 1,700 truckloads of aid inside Gaza during that same week. While Israel did prohibit aid entry for ten weeks between March 2 and May 18, 2025, that ban has since been lifted. During a ceasefire period earlier in the year, from January 19 to March 2, approximately 448,000 tons of aid were delivered, which some experts suggested could have sufficed for the population’s needs for up to six months.
Despite these figures, flotilla organizers maintain that the current level of aid is inadequate, and that the blockade itself constitutes collective punishment in violation of the Geneva Conventions. They argue that their mission is justified by the urgent need to end what they describe as a policy of deliberate starvation. “These boats don’t just carry aid; they carry a message: the siege must end,” the organizers declared, according to Reuters.
The legal debate is far from settled. While the San Remo Manual permits blockades and allows for the interception of ships attempting to breach them—even on the high seas—some United Nations reports have found Israel’s blockade to be illegal due to the disproportionate harm inflicted on Gaza’s civilian population. A panel of inquiry established by the UN Secretary General after the Mavi Marmara incident determined that the blockade was a legitimate exercise of self-defense, designed to prevent weapons smuggling by Hamas. However, a separate report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council concluded that the blockade did disproportionate damage and was therefore illegal, as was the interception of the flotilla’s vessels.
Shamir-Borer, for his part, argues that the rule of proportionality cited in some critiques was imported from the laws governing attacks, not blockades, and has not become customary international law. He also referenced the US Naval War College’s Newport Manual, which states that proportionality is not a consideration for blockades because they do not qualify as attacks under international law.
As the GSF approaches Gaza, the question of what will happen next hangs in the air. Under international law, Israel is permitted to intercept vessels that openly declare their intention to breach a blockade—even outside its territorial waters. “You don’t have to wait for a point in time when vessels breach the blockaded area,” Shamir-Borer told The Times of Israel. “It is enough that they are attempting to breach the blockade. If they provide a statement that they intend to breach, that is enough, and it can be done on the high seas.”
With the flotilla declaring its intention to dock in Gaza and unload its cargo, Israel’s navy is legally entitled to act, but whether it will do so—and how the world will respond—remains to be seen. The convoy’s progress has become a lightning rod for debate about the boundaries of humanitarian action, the laws of war, and the ongoing tragedy in Gaza. For now, all eyes remain fixed on the Mediterranean, where a small fleet carries not just supplies, but the hopes and convictions of a global movement determined to challenge the status quo.
As the deadline nears and the ships draw closer, the outcome of this high-stakes journey could reverberate far beyond the shores of Gaza, shaping the next chapter in a conflict that has already claimed far too many lives.