Do Gaza aid flotillas symbolize futile protest — or a real strategy to confront Israel’s blockade?

Do Gaza aid flotillas symbolize futile protest — or a real strategy to confront Israel’s blockade?

LONDON: Just after sundown on Oct. 1, Israeli naval forces surrounded the largest activist flotilla yet to challenge the blockade of the Gaza Strip. Within hours, most of the 44 boats carrying more than 450 activists and journalists — along with a symbolic shipment of aid — went silent, cut off from the outside world.

The nighttime raid drew swift condemnation from governments and rights groups, while protests erupted from Istanbul and Athens to Buenos Aires and Berlin.

By the following midday, Israel confirmed what organizers had long anticipated: nearly the entire Global Sumud Flotilla had been stopped in international waters, its passengers detained, and its journey halted off Gaza’s shores.

The Israeli military announced in a post on X that “all but one” of the flotilla’s ships had been taken. The final vessel, it said, “remains at a distance.”