September 29, 2025 | 09:26 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The Global Sumud Flotilla, an international aid convoy, is nearing the Gaza Strip in its latest effort to challenge Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave, organizers announced on Monday, September 29, 2025.
“We are 570 kilometers (307.7 nautical miles) away from reaching Gaza,” the International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza said on X, as reported by Anadolu.
Tony La Piccirella, an Italian activist with the flotilla, explained in a video statement that the fleet aims to reach the same point where the aid ships Madleen and Handala were intercepted by the Israeli navy earlier this year. The flotilla expects to arrive on Tuesday, September 30.
On July 26, the Israeli navy intercepted Handala about 70 nautical miles from Gaza and forced it to Ashdod Port. The Madleen was stopped even earlier, around 110 miles out, before it could approach the enclave.
Activists said that additional participants joined the flotilla from the Mediterranean on Monday, with two more ships expected from Cyprus. The largest vessel, carrying around 100 people, is set to depart Tuesday.
La Piccirella noted that Italian and Spanish navy ships are already providing protection, while three other countries are reportedly considering sending military escorts, though he declined to name them.
“This is growing bigger,” he said. “ And it's not about us, about the Global Sumud Flotilla. It's like a movement with hundreds of people at sea and millions of people on land, and it's not stoppable until the siege is broken.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of around 50 vessels, began its journey earlier this month to deliver humanitarian aid, particularly medical supplies, to Gaza.
Since March 2, Israel has kept Gaza’s crossings closed, blocking food and aid convoys and deepening famine conditions in the enclave.
According to Palestinian authorities, more than 66,000 civilians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023. The ongoing bombardment has left much of the territory uninhabitable, worsening hunger and the spread of disease.
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