The Global Sumud Flotilla Is Under Ongoing Attack from Israel

The Global Sumud Flotilla reports that as it sailed through Greek territorial waters early on 25 September 2025, it was likely to encounter further drone activity, while the EU had too warned of rising threats from the Israeli military, as the boats of the flotilla continued to sail through the Mediterranean Sea carrying humanitarian aid for the Palestinians of the beleaguered Gaza Strip.

The flotilla comprises of around 500 “everyday people” from at least 44 countries. The GSF has reported being subjected to ever-increasing Israeli attacks over Tuesday and Wednesday this week, which have involved drone swarms, the jamming of communications, explosions and the dropping of objects, with this escalation more pronounced the closer the civilians draw to Gaza.

The GSF also made clear that the attacks have been accompanied by a weeklong smear campaign, labelling the group of 40-odd boats the “Hamas Flotilla”, which suggests that the humanitarian aid mission bound for Gaza, the site of a two-year-long Israeli-perpetrated genocide, is a terror mission, and this distinction is considered to aim at manufacturing global consent for a lethal strike against it.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is part of the ongoing attempt by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) to sail ships bound for the besieged Gaza Strip carrying aid since 2010. The Israeli Defence Forces attacked the six civilian ships that attempted to reach Gaza in 2010, and as troops stormed vessels nine crew members were killed during the operation and a tenth later died in a coma.

The lethal outcome of the 2010 flotilla has haunted all FFC attempts ever since. An attempt last May resulted in an attack on a boat off the coast of Malta, while two vessels from the current flotilla were bombed in Tunisia on 9 September. And with participants from two other FFC flotilla attempts over June and July having been taken into Israeli custody, current crew members are certainly risking it all.

Israeli terror attacks

“Israel has made accusations against this flotilla as being associated with Hamas,” said GSF participant Australian health professional Bianca Webb-Pullman on Thursday morning. “I can tell you that this is a people’s movement.”

“It’s quite offensive to me as a healthcare worker to have this accusation made, because as healthcare workers, there are many of us on this flotilla, it is absurd,” she continued from the ship she was sailing upon. “This accusation is incorrect, and we have seen it used by Israel against healthcare workers in Gaza repeatedly.”

The Global Sumud Flotilla draws towards Gaza as Israel continues to perpetrate a mass murder and starvation program in the Strip that’s close to two years old now, and while the official death toll from the Gaza Health Ministry is around 65,000 Palestinians killed, a recent local study considers that based on past data, the devastation has likely led to the death of around 680,000 Palestinians.

Including Webb-Pullman, there are a total of six Australians participating in the GSF. The other Australians include Juliet Lamont, Abubakir Mohammad Rafiq, Hamish Paterson, Surya McEwan and Daniel Coward. These Australians are currently experiencing ongoing attacks by the Israeli military in international waters and those of foreign nations, and our government is looking the other way.

The Australians on board the flotilla are asking their fellow citizens to contact prime minister Anthony Albanese, foreign minister Penny Wong and defence minister Richard Marles to call upon him to condemn the ongoing attacks upon the flotilla as acts of terrorism and further, call on Tel Aviv to allow the safe passage of the vessels and to stop its military attacks upon them.

Australians under attack

Australian Juliet Lamont recorded a message from the flotilla on Wednesday, detailing that she’d just borne witness to a drone that crashed into the sales of another boat, resulting in a huge explosion. She further outlined that on 24 September, Israel was increasing its attacks, and so far, 12 attacks against the civilian vessels had occurred, with no injuries as yet.

“We are here for Palestinians,” said Lamont. “They’re getting erased. They’re getting murdered. They are getting starved. We will not be stopped. We continue our mission. If you see this contact the Australian consulate, contact our leaders, contact Penny Wong, and Albo and get them to do something. Ordinary people should not be sitting on fucking boats getting attacked by the IOF.”

But Albanese and Wong are over in the US at the UN meeting, and neither has addressed the attacks on the GSF over the last 48 hours. Nor has our government addressed the alleged Israeli attacks upon two flotilla boats moored in Tunisia a fortnight ago. Footage from one boat struck saw an Australian raising the alarm, while one of his fellow passengers was renowned climate activist Greta Thunberg.

The UN Convention on the Law of the Sea prevents nations from attacking civilians sailing in international waters, as well as from making military attacks in the territorial waters of another country. This means that since May, Israel has perpetrated numerous illegal attacks upon various iterations of the FFC, and right now, the Israeli military is throwing the rulebook out the window.

Expendable nationals

With 500 more kilometres to reach the coast of Gaza, the flotilla might take another week to make it to its destination. Yet, with the presence of Israeli drones already escalating, the GSF’s passage is fraught with danger. Both the June and July flotillas involved one boat being boarded by IOF soldiers, who took the civilians of various nationalities into custody before sending them home one-by-one.

The United Nations is now calling for an investigation into the recent and continuing drone attacks upon the Global Sumud Flotilla, stating that those responsible should be held accountable. Following reports of explosions and drones off the coast of Greece on Wednesday, Italy sent out a navy frigate to assist the vessels, and Spain has since sent a second warship.

The lack of any Australian government response to the ongoing attacks on the Global Sumud Flotilla, when six Australians are onboard and the initial attack upon the group of ships that occurred a fortnight ago prominently featured an Australian man in a viral social media clip calling out that a bomb had hit the front of the boat that he and Thunberg were sleeping on whilst docked in Tunisia.

Although this lack of response from federal Labor in relation to these attacks does remind of the inadequacy of response it gave after the Israeli military targeted and killed Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom last year, and both reveal the post-October 2023 governing grey area, which involves any Israeli attack upon Australians related to the Gaza genocide suddenly going unaddressed.