The South African Chapter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement for Palestine strongly condemns the illegal Israeli attacks over the past two days on boats that form part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF). Six South Africans are among those abducted by Israeli forces in this criminal act of piracy.
This is the second major attack on the Flotilla. The first took place on 4 May. In both cases, the violent attacks occurred in international waters. Both interceptions are, therefore, acts of piracy by the Israeli Occupation Forces.
The Flotilla consists of a patchwork of small sailboats, wooden vessels, and modest motorboats. All the people on board are unarmed and committed to a non-violent journey. The boats are carrying desperately-needed aid to Gaza: food, medicines, medical equipment, baby food.
The need for the aid that the Flotilla carries is even greater since Israel’s refusal to allow in even the most basic amount of aid into Gaza. The 360 square kilometre territory, with its two million residents, was pummelled by Israel for two years as part of its genocide. The infrastructure of Gaza is almost completely destroyed; medical personnel, journalists, academics were targeted by the Israeli military and assassinated. Several more were captured and held in Israeli prisons where they have been tortured, raped, and severely abused.
In terms of the ceasefire agreement of October 2025, Israel is supposed to allow a substantial amount of aid into the decimated Gaza Strip. However, only a fraction is allowed in. The population in Gaza is struggling to obtain basic necessities – including food, water, and fuel for medical services.
It is this dire need that the Global Sumud Flotilla seeks to address. But the genocidal Israelis are not even allowing this minimal aid to reach the civilians of Gaza.
In the attack earlier this month, several people on the boats were violently attacked, tortured, and, in some cases, sexually abused. Two of the activists – citizens of Brazil and Spain – were illegally abducted and taken to Israel where they were tortured further.
We are concerned that many of those abducted over the past 48 hours will face similar mistreatment by Israeli occupation forces.
We salute the courage of all those on the Global Sumud Flotilla.
We call on the international community to force the Israeli government to abide by international law – including the Law of the Sea, and to protect these attempts to get food to a starving population. A population against whom starvation has been used as a weapon of war.
We call on the South African Government to spare no effort to secure the release of the South Africans who were abducted. They are: Ambassador Faizel Moosa, Hajjar Ahjum-Mathee, Yusuf Rahman, Ebrahim Peters, Qutb Hendricks, and Mogamed Faeek Ariefdien.