Israel has hijacked the Global Sumud Flotilla boats sailing to Gaza

Posted: 3rd October 2025

Israel has hijacked the Global Sumud Flotilla boats sailing to Gaza to deliver aid, and kidnapped the civilian activists on board.

The British government must intervene to demand the immediate release of those detained, and urgently address the issues to which the flotilla was responding to by ending all arms trade and military collaboration with Israel.Take action by e-mailing the Foreign Secretary today using our new template letter.

The civilians on board the Global Sumud Flotilla were attempting to deliver aid to the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, to break Israel’s immoral and illegal siege.

Four of the boats in the fleet were British-flagged boats. The British government has a legal duty to defend its ships and the civilians on board, who have been subject to an attack clearly breaching international humanitarian law.

Israel’s illegal siege on the Gaza Strip is a component of its genocide, which has killed many tens, if not hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and caused the complete devastation of civilian infrastructure and an intentionally engineered famine.

Earlier this month, the UN Commission of Inquiry concluded what we already know—that Israel is inflicting a genocide on the Palestinian people. The report outlined that signatories of the Genocide Convention, including Britain, have an obligation to prevent further acts of genocide and punish those responsible, including by ending the arms trade with Israel.

Write to the Foreign Secretary to demand that the government calls for the immediate release of the activists kidnapped by Israel, and acts to end Britain’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.

The British government’s failure to fulfil its obligations under the Genocide Convention has led to ordinary people organising to sail with the Global Sumud Flotilla in an attempt to break Israel’s illegal siege and deliver the aid that Israel refuses to allow in.

Israel is clearly emboldened by the impunity granted to it by the British government’s continued support for Israel, including through its arms trade, and repeated failure to hold it to account.

Write to the Foreign Secretary to demand the government calls for the immediate release of the activists kidnapped by Israel, and acts to end Britain’s complicity in Israel’s genocide.