In the sea there is a wake that seems insignificant in front of the war machinery of a state. And yet, that wake has become a symbol today. The Marinette, a Sumud Global Fleet Boat, lagged with a breakdown, still sails towards Gaza. It has been left alone, the more than forty boats have been assaulted by the Israel Army in international waters and its passengers, about 450, they are in Israeli custody.
The assault scene still weighs. In the early morning from Wednesday to Thursday, Israeli soldiers with helmets and night vision glasses boarded the more than forty boats of the Sumud Global Fleet. The live cameras showed the activists with life jackets, the hands raised under the glow of the spotlights. According to the organizers, they were beaten by water cannons, sprinkled with contaminated and isolated liquids by interruption of their communications.
Among the detainees are Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who left a message in anticipating his capture – “If you see this message, I have been kidnapped and carried against my will by the Israeli forces” -, and the former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau. Spain has located 65 citizens among those arrested, of which about thirty is already in custody. In total, the number of detainees exceeds 450 people.
In the port of Ashdod, more than 600 Israeli agents and officials have received the arrested. Police claims to have already identified 250 of them, who have appeared before a judge to initiate their deportation. The transfer to the Ketziot prison and the expulsion on charter flights, scheduled for the next few days, mark the immediate destiny of the majority.
The Israel government insists that all passengers “are safe and in good health” and emphasize that the flotilla tried to “enter an active combat zone and violate a legal block.” On the Marinette, the warning is clear: “There is a last ship of this provocation. If you approach Gaza, it will also be stopped.”
Despite this, the organization has made it an emblem. “The Marinette is Sumud, firmly in the face of fear, blockade and brutality,” he proclaimed on social networks. That Arabic word – Sumud, perseverance – has become the definition of a fragile but insistent resistance, compared to many with the gala village of the French comics that faced the empire.
International reactions have not been long in coming. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, denounced the “brutality” against “unarmed civilians who intended to help children starving in Gaza.” From South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa claimed the release of its citizens, including a grandson of Nelson Mandela. In Italy, the unions have called a general strike for this Friday. And in cities such as Paris, Buenos Aires, Mexico City or Karachi, thousands of people have taken to the streets in solidarity with activists.
The Global Sumud Flotilla departed at the end of August with food and medicines aboard more than forty civil ships, among which parliamentarians, lawyers and volunteers were traveling. They intended to break a block that has last for 17 years and has left Gaza in a borderline situation. According to the Ministry of Health of the Strip, more than 66,000 Palestinians have died since the beginning of the Israeli offensive in 2023, while the population faces a generalized famine. Israel, meanwhile, defends that it acts in legitimate defense after Hamas attack of October 7, 2023.
Today, when the detainees wait for their expulsion and the chancellors discuss their next steps, the image that remains is that of a lonely ship that advances towards a destination announced. The Marinette, turned into an accident symbol, writes in the water a wake that challenges the siege, even knowing that its end will not be different from that of others.
