LAST UPDATE | 3 Oct 2025

THE LAST BOAT from the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying aid to Gaza has been intercepted by Israeli forces while another aid convoy continues its journey across the Mediterranean towards the besieged Palestinian territory. 

The Marinette was in international waters in the same area where the other ships were intercepted by Israeli forces in a nighttime raid this week, during which water canons were used and boats were rammed. 

There were no Irish citizens on board the Marinette. 

Meanwhile, another flotilla is making its way to Gaza with at least two Irish people on board – TD Barry Heneghan and author Naoise Dolan. 

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens group of ten vessels is currently off the southern coast of Greece. 

Dolan spoke to The Journal yesterday and said she was “heartbroken” to see the Sumud Flotilla’s aid fail to reach people in Palestine. 

Another ship, the Conscience, which is carrying medical personnel and journalists, is following the FFC group. The Conscience was damaged in a drone attack off the coast of Malta last May.

“The Conscience is the latest and largest boat in this historic flotilla — and its name represents not only steadfast resistance to Israel’s illegal blockade, but a call to awaken the conscience of the world,” said Huwaida Arraf, an FFC steering committee member who is aboard the ship.

‘Abducted’ 

The Global Sumud Flotilla’s organisers said yesterday that an estimated 443 participants have been taken to Israel, where they face a choice between voluntary deportation and a hearing before a judge within the next three days. 

“Hundreds of participants have been abducted and reportedly taken aboard the large naval vessel, the MSC Johannesburg,” the organisers said in a statement yesterday. 

Among those taken captive by Israel are sixteen Irish citizens. Their capture was condemned in the Dáil yesterday as “piracy and kidnapping” by a number of TDs.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said the raid constituted illegal detention and a breach of international law. 

There were 22 Irish citizens on board boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla but some of those were on the group’s independent legal support boats, which did not attempt to break the Israeli blockade.

Leigh Brosnan, a barrister from Dublin, is one of the lawyers aboard one of those support boats. She spoke to The Journal earlier this week about why she decided to make the journey. 

The next flotilla off the southern coast of Greece Flotilla tracker Flotilla tracker

Helen Lawlor, coordinator of the Irish delegation for the Global Movement to Gaza, told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme this morning she had received word that the detainees have been transferred to Ktzi’ot Prison in the Negev Desert, not far from Egypt.

Lawlor said this was “standard procedure” but that the large number of detainees taken at one time was unprecedented when compared to previous flotillas.

She added that “Palestinian-Israeli lawyers are already on the way” to meet with them. 

The Global Sumud Flotilla said the lawyers are from Adalah, the Legal Centre for Minority Arab Rights in Israel. 

Those lawyers are the only point of contact with flotilla organisers, Lawlor said. 

The Tánaiste said in a statement this morning that all 16 Irish citizens “were transferred to a detention facility in southern Israel”. 

He said an embassy team, including Ireland’s ambassador to Israel, was currently at the detention facility “providing all possible and appropriate consular assistance, including ensuring access to legal representation and facilitating medical treatment where necessary”.  

He said he was also aware of “a number of Irish citizens participating in other Flotillas en route to Gaza and have instructed my Department to closely monitor that evolving situation”.

Two choices 

Explaining the process which previous flotilla members have gone through, Lawlor said some may refuse to admit they have broken any laws. 

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“Generally what happens is they’re offered various forms to sign,” she said.

“People choose themselves whether to sign the forms or not, because the first form will say, you know, that they agree that they have entered Israel illegally, whereas none of these people have actually entered Israel illegally.

“They were all brought there against their will after being intercepted in international waters.”

If they do not sign those forms, they will be brought before a judge for a deportation hearing within 72 hours, although Simon Harris said yesterday that because of the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, this may take longer than usual. 

Lawlor said the flotillas would keep coming.

“None of these flotillas are doing anything that’s illegal. These are all legal acts, and it’s absolutely preposterous to think that one government can control the whole world’s reaction to a genocide, and that’s what’s happening here.

“So these flotillas will continue over and over and over again until aid gets into Gaza by the sea.”

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