Yasemin Acar describes the drone that hovered over the Sumud Freedom Flotilla at midnight (Tuesday night/Wednesday morning) as a form of psychological warfare targeting the crew.
The Sumud Flotilla set sail from Barcelona Spain on Tuesday, and already, on the second night of the week-long voyage, faced the buzzing of Israeli surveillance drones overhead. The flotilla is in international waters, and unannounced aerial surveillance drones are illegal under maritime law.
The Sumud Flotilla is made up of crew members from 45 different countries, and 50 ships filled with humanitarian aid to break the Israeli siege on Gaza which has prevented the entry of virtually all aid since March 2025, and had been allowing in only a trickle of aid before then. The Israeli-created famine in Gaza has already caused hundreds of deaths by starvation in the past five months, and the number of deaths is increasing daily.
Before the Malaysian delegation left their country, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim, spoke in a public address to the activists of the Sumud Nusantara Flotilla, which is joining the Global Sumud Flotilla to break Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza. He said, “My brothers in Gaza and Palestine… We salute your spirit of struggle and we will never leave you alone.”
UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese expressed her support for the Global Sumud Flotilla, stressing that its mission is fully in line with international law.
The Italian relief organization EMERGENCY announced it was intending to join the flotilla, and soon after the announcement, on August 29th, Israeli forces bombed the organization’s Gaza office, located in Deir al-Balah.
“We were suddenly awakened by a loud bang due to the bombing of the house adjacent to ours. We know that a family with four children lived there, but we do not know the real number of victims because we only saw ambulances take them away. The bombings continued throughout the night”, said Francesco Sacchi, EMERGENCY project manager in the Strip.
The staff has been taking steps to remove the rubble that fell during the bombing in the external entrance, which is blocking the exit of vehicles and people.
“We did not receive any warning from the authorities of the impending attack. No one is safe inside the Gaza Strip. We continue to demand respect for civilians and a final ceasefire.”
In Genoa, Italy, 50,000 people marched as a send-off to the flotilla, calling for an end to the Israeli genocide of the people of Gaza, led by the mayor of the city.
One of the leaders of the Dockworkers Union gave this speech:
“I want this to be clear to everyone — really to everyone: around mid-September these boats will arrive near the coast of Gaza, close to the critical zone. If we lose contact with our boats, with our comrades, even for just twenty minutes, we will block all of Europe. I’ve written it down so I won’t forget it. Together with our union, together with all the dockworkers who stand with us, together with the whole city of Genoa… from this region 13–14 thousand containers leave every year for Israel, not a single nail will leave anymore.
“We will launch an international strike, we will block the roads, we will block the schools, we will block everything. Our young women and men must come back without a scratch, and all this cargo, which belongs to the people and is going to the people, must reach its destination, down to the very last box. That’s all I have to say.”
