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global sumud flotilla
House Dems Demand Trump, Rubio Free Sumud Flotilla Americans Held by Israel
"The US has an obligation to protect its citizens abroad and must act immediately."
Oct 06, 2025
Congressman Ro Khanna and two dozen other California Democrats wrote to President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, urging them to demand that Israel release the Americans it detained while intercepting the Global Sumud Flotilla before the boats could reach the Gaza Strip.
More than 450 people from over 40 countries joined the peaceful mission to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians. Among them were at least 21 US citizens who "remain in Israeli detention," according to the letter from lawmakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The lawmakers highlighted the Californians who are detained: Progressive International co-general coordinator David Adler, Tommy Marcus, Geraldine Ramirez, and Logan Hollarsmith.
They also emphasized that "the US has an obligation to protect its citizens abroad and must act immediately."
"We call on you to work for the immediate and safe release, including arranging the logistics of a plane to ensure the speedy recovery, of US citizens who were on the flotilla and are still being held in Israeli prisons," the lawmakers wrote to Rubio and Trump—who last week told Israel to "immediately stop" bombing Gaza.
Despite the directive from Trump—whose government gives Israel billions of dollars a year in military aid, even as it faces mounting allegations of genocide—Israel continues to bomb Gaza. The US lawmakers' letter stresses that in the Palestinian territory, "the humanitarian situation is growing more dire by the day," with the entire population food insecure and most housing destroyed.
"We call for humanitarian aid to be sent to the people of Gaza," states the letter—sent on the eve of the second anniversary of the Hamas-led attack on Israel, which has responded by slaughtering at least tens of thousands of Palestinians.
As of Monday, Israel had deported 341 of the 479 detained flotilla activists—including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who told reporters Monday that "I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment," but urged people around the world to focus on the genocide in Gaza.
"I will never, ever comprehend how humans can be so evil that you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades and decades of suffocating oppression, apartheid, occupation," she said.
Congressman Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) on Monday expressed concern about "reports of mistreatment of the American citizens detained by Israel for participating in the Gaza aid flotilla," and urged their immediate release and safe return to the United States.
Jeremy Corbyn, a member of the UK Parliament who used to lead the Labour Party, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel have also publicly called for the release of Adler and the other flotilla members who remain detained by Israel.
Like the California Democrats, the US advocacy group Defending Rights & Dissent also wrote to Rubio on Monday, and specifically pointed to Adler, military veteran and podcaster Greg Stoker, and Drop Site News journalist Alex Colston.
"The State Department has a responsibility to defend the rights of our citizens abroad, especially when they are being subjected to violations of fundamental rights by a foreign government," wrote Defending Rights & Dissent. "Disturbingly, we have received reports that US consular assistance has been minimal or nonexistent. This is in stark contrast to other nations that have forcefully advocated for the human rights of their citizens and secured their expedited release."
After speaking with Hollarsmith's mother, Sidney Hollar, KQED reported Monday:
Hollar said she heard from the US Embassy in Jerusalem early Monday that Hollarsmith and the other US citizens still in detention were expected to be deported in the next 24 hours. She said that she was told they would be flown out of the country, but not given information about where they would land.
From there, the US would "loan them money for a hotel and for a flight home," she said. She called the prospect "outrageous."
"We can't fund a little chartered flight to get our US citizens, including US vets, home?" Hollar said.
"The Americans are being punished by the American government for delivering humanitarian aid," she said.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) took to social media on Monday to put pressure on the State Department.
"Last week, I wrote to Marco Rubio urging protection of Americans on the Sumud Flotilla. Since then, Israel has detained dozens of activists, including Americans, for trying to feed starving Gazans. This is unacceptable," she said. "Marco Rubio, you must negotiate their safe return home."
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Thunberg Confirms Abuse by Israeli Abductors, But Urges World to Focus on Gaza Genocide
"This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fueled by our own governments, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity."
Oct 06, 2025
While confirming that she and other Global Sumud Flotilla members were abused by Israeli forces who abducted and jailed them, Swedish climate and human rights activist Greta Thunberg on Monday implored humanity to focus on the genocide in Gaza as it enters its third year.
"I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me, but that is not the story," Thunberg said during a press conference at Athens Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Greece, where she and other flotilla participants released by Israel were greeted by a cheering crowd.
"What happened here is that Israel, while continuing to worsen and escalate their genocide and mass destruction with genocidal intent, attempting to erase an entire population, an entire nation in front of our very eyes, they once again violated international law by preventing humanitarian aid from getting into Gaza while people are being starved," she continued.
Greta Thunberg has arrived in Greece following her deportation from Israel, after the Gaza aid flotilla was intercepted. Thunberg, along with hundreds of other activists onboard, was illegally detained by Israeli forces.
Addressing crowds, she said: “I could talk for a very,… pic.twitter.com/6oTfXx4CpW
— Novara Media (@novaramedia) October 6, 2025
"This genocide and other genocides are being enabled and fueled by our own governments, our institutions, our media, and companies. It is our responsibility to end that complicity... to use our privileges, our platforms, to take a stance against this, that is in every way unjustifiable," Thunberg asserted.
"I will never, ever comprehend how humans can be so evil that you would deliberately starve millions of people living trapped under an illegal siege as a continuation of decades and decades of suffocating oppression, apartheid, occupation," she added.
Thunberg's remarks came as Israeli forced continued their bombing and invasion of Gaza with the objective of conquering, occupying, and ethnically cleansing Palestinians from the strip. Israeli airstrikes—which have reportedly killed nearly 100 Palestinians over the past two days—continued despite US President Donald Trump's Friday exhortation to "immediately stop" bombing the embattled strip, citing Hamas' willingness to conditionally release the remaining Israeli and other hostages it has held since October 7, 2023.
Trump urged negotiators to "move fast" toward a ceasefire agreement ahead of Monday's indirect peace talks between Israel and Hamas in Egypt.
Since launching the assault and "complete siege" of Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, Israeli forces have killed at least 67,139 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry—whose figures are widely believed to be a vast undercount. Most of those killed have been women and children.
Over 169,500 Palestinians have also been wounded in Gaza and thousands more are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble. Most of Gaza's more than 2 million people have also been forcibly displaced, often multiple times, while hundreds of thousands of others are starving in an engineered famine that officials say has killed at least 460 people.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza including murder and forced starvation. Just under two miles away at the International Court of Justice, tribunal members are weighing a genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa and supported by around two dozen nations and regional blocs.
Thunberg and more than 400 other Global Sumud Flotilla members were intercepted last week by Israeli forces in international waters before being taken to Israel and jailed. Thunberg told Swedish officials Saturday that she had been "subjected to harsh treatment in Israeli custody."
“She informed of dehydration," a Swedish Foreign Ministry email noted. "She has received insufficient amounts of both water and food. She also stated that she had developed rashes which she suspects were caused by bedbugs. She spoke of harsh treatment and said she had been sitting for long periods on hard surfaces.”
Turkish flotilla activist Ersin Çelik said he witnessed Israelis abusing Thunberg.
"They dragged little Greta by her hair before our eyes, beat her, and forced her to kiss the Israeli flag," Çelik said. "They did everything imaginable to her, as a warning to others."
Italian journalist and flotilla member Lorenzo D’Agostino said that Thunberg was “wrapped in the Israeli flag and paraded like a trophy.”
Abducted flotilla members said they were humiliated by Israelis, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who called them "terrorists." This, from a man who in 2007 was convicted of incitement to racism and supporting the Kahanist terrorist group Kach.
D'Agostino told CNN Monday that “we were shocked by the level of humiliation and gratuitous cruelty that these people used on us."
"The way we were treated was... pushing the mistreatment and the humiliation to the limit that they could afford,” he said, explaining that his captors “knew that they couldn’t harm us physically” if activists were from countries like Italy.
“I was sharing my cell with a Turkish citizen whose arm was broken and he was left without painkillers for two days.”
“People coming from countries that are not allied [with Israel] were harmed physically,” D'Agostino added. “I was sharing my cell with a Turkish citizen whose arm was broken and he was left without painkillers for two days.”
Israel's Foreign Ministry said Sunday that flotilla members' claims of abuse are "brazen lies," and that “all the detainees’ legal rights are fully upheld.”
As of Monday, Israel had deported 341 of the 479 detained flotilla activists. The remaining detainees are either awaiting deportation or, in some cases—including one Spanish woman who allegedly bit an Israeli medic during a forced medical examination at Ketziot Prison—are facing extended detention.
The alleged abuse of flotilla detainees pales in comparison to what Palestinian prisoners have allegedly endured at the hands of their Israeli captors. Former detainees and Israeli personnel have described beatings, rape and sexual torture by male and female soldiers, routine amputations due to constant shackling, burnings, electrocutions, attacks by dogs, ice-water dousings, denial of food and water, sleep deprivation, constant loud music, and other abuse.
The Israeli military has launched investigations into the deaths of dozens of detainees at the notorious Sde Teiman prison, including one who died after allegedly being sodomized with an electric baton.
Another group of boats is currently en route from Europe in another attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.
"As more ships set sail for Gaza, we are likely to see a repeat of these events," Amnesty International said Monday, referring to the alleged abuse of Global Sumud Flotilla activists. "States must act now and make clear to Israel that its suffocating blockade and its ongoing genocide against Palestinians must end now."
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2 Flotillas, 1 Mission: Another Wave of Flotillas Are Heading for Gaza Now
The mission of the Conscience and 1,000 Madleens will continue citizens spotlighting the continuing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Oct 06, 2025
In the past three months, citizens around the world have participated in dramatic challenges to the horrific Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza with over 66,000 known dead and at least 100,000 souls under the rubble, most of whom are women and children.
The genocide includes the destruction of virtually all food and food distribution systems, hospitals and clinics, schools and universities, water and sanitation facilities, and a huge amount of the housing for 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Ships From the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition
For the past 18 years, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has used ships to attempt to carry citizens from all over the world to Gaza in a nonviolent challenge to the genocidal violence of the Israeli government and the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
In the past five months, since May 2025, the FFC has launched four missions. In May 2025, the FFC attempted to launch the Conscience ship in Malta, but the Israeli forces bombed the vessel hours before participants were to board the ship. In June 2025 the FFC sent the Madleen sailboat with 12 persons onboard that were arrested and kidnapped in international waters, imprisoned, and deported. In July 2025, the FFC launched the motor vessel Handala with 22 persons onboard. They too were arrested and kidnapped in international waters, imprisoned, and deported.
In August 2025, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition was joined in its mission of challenging the increasing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the illegal Israeli naval and land blockade of Gaza by the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).
Ships From the Global Sumud Flotilla Intercepted by IOF
On August 31, 2025, the Global Sumud Flotilla launched 22 boats from Barcelona and were joined by about 10 boats from Tunisia, where two boats were hit by incendiary devices dropped from drones; 14 boats from Italy; and six boats from Greece for a total of around 50 ships challenging the illegal naval blockade of Gaza. The GSF had participants from 47 countries.
After sailing almost one month with delays due to weather and mechanical issues of the boats, the Global Sumud Flotilla was intercepted in the early morning hours of October 2, 2025. One vessel, the Mikeno, was able to enter the territorial waters of Gaza, the first boat to do so since 2008 when the Free Gaza Movement sailed five boats into Gaza. 462 participants on 39 boats were arrested and kidnapped in international waters, imprisoned, and, as of this writing, are awaiting deportation.
The first groups of the 462 persons from the Global Sumud Flotilla who were arrested, taken hostage, and then deported were four members of the Italian Parliament on October 3.
The second group of 137 persons from GSF were flown in a Turkish flight to Istanbul in the late afternoon of October 4, including 36 from Turkiye and 101 from other countries: Italy (26), Malaysia (23), Tunisia (10), Switzerland (9), UK (9), Libya (7), Algeria (6), Morocco (4), Kuwait (4), Jordan (2), Bahrain (1), Mauritania (1), and the US.
Second Flotilla Wave: Conscience and 1,000 Madleen sailboats Are Sailing Now
As the Global Sumud Flotilla was sailing to Gaza, in late September 2025, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition launched a second wave of flotilla ships to challenge the Israeli genocide of Gaza and to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
The Conscience, which had been repaired from the May 2025 bombing off Malta, left from Otranto, Italy on September 30, 2025 with a mission of bringing medical personnel and journalists to Gaza. The Conscience has onboard 92 participants from 22 countries. The countries represented on the Conscience are: Algeria (1), Australia (1), Azerbaijan (2), Bangladesh (1), Belgium (4), Canada (6), Denmark (3), Finland (1), France (7), Germany (6), Iceland (1), Ireland (3) * (one is Irish and Jordanian), Israel (2), Italy (6), Malaysia (9), New Zealand (1), Norway (2) *(one is Norwegian and Iranian), Spain (5), Tunisia (1), Turkiye (9), UK (2)* (one is British and Jordanian ), USA (8).
As a part of the second flotilla wave, the new organization Thousand Madleens launched seven sailboats on September 27 from Catania, Sicily, Italy with a total of 52 participants from 15 countries: Ireland (2), Denmark (4), Malaysia (1), Spain (2), Belgium (4), Germany (1), Switzerland (1), Italy (4), France (25), Greece (1), USA (4), UK (1), South Korea (1). Five sailboats were from the French campaign, and two sailboats were from the Danish campaign.
The Italian campaign of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition sailed two sailboats with a total of 12 Italian participants from Otranto, Italy on September 26, 2025.
Support for the Flotillas from Many Governments
The Gaza flotilla initiatives have received support from Foreign Ministers of 16 countries; the President of Colombia Gustavo Petro; United Nations experts including the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese; and Members of Parliament in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Turkiye.
Naval vessels dispatched from Italy, Spain, and Turkiye to "ensure the safety of their citizens" retreated as the flotilla reached closer to Gaza. None of the nations stopped the Israeli navy from kidnapping, arresting, and imprisoning their citizens in international waters.
Citizens Around the World Demonstrate for Ending the Israeli Genocide of Gaza and for the Gaza Flotillas
The many boats and the kidnapping, arrest, and imprisonment of the many participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla have created big mobilizations of citizens all over the world to emphasize how their governments are complicit in the Israeli genocide of Gaza.
The mission of the Conscience and 1,000 Madleens will continue citizens spotlighting the continuing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Track the Conscience and 1,000 Madleens
Citizens around the world can track the progress of the Conscience, the 1,000 Madleens, and the boats from Italy through the FFC tracker: https://freedomflotilla.org/ffc-tmtg-conscience-tracker/
One can observe life on the ship Conscience through this live feed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FJIGo3hNoY
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