SA activists on the flotilla risk their lives to break Israel’s Gaza blockade

A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists, including 10 South African activists and the Swedish climate and political campaigner Greta Thunberg, will soon be setting sail for the Gaza Strip in an effort to break Israel’s siege on the region and deliver aid to Palestinians.

“A lot of people have been framing us as heroes and saviours. We are not heroes and saviours,” said Dr Zaheera Soomar, a South African activist and participant aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).

“I am a daughter, I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a sibling — I’m a normal human being that does normal human being things every day. I’m leaving my three young children to risk my life; nothing extraordinary. My message is that it doesn’t take an extraordinary person to stand up. Every single one of us — whether you’re jumping on a boat or not — can play our part in stopping a genocide,” she continued.

Read more: We don’t, and won’t, shy away from reporting on Gaza, famine and the pressing power of now

Soomar was speaking to Daily Maverick from Tunis, Tunisia, where she, along with nine other South Africans, will board the GSF in the following days. The fleet left Barcelona, Spain, on 31 August.

Mandla Mandela, a former member of Parliament and grandson of Nelson Mandela, is a member of the local delegation, along with South African Jews for a Free Palestine’s Jared Sacks and award-winning South African writer and cultural activist Zukiswa Wanner.

The GSF was formed by coordinators, organisers and participants from the Global Movement to Gaza, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla and the Sumud Nusantara. According to the GSF website, the GSF is the “largest civilian maritime mission” to Gaza, with more than 50 boats and delegations from at least 44 countries.

“The Global Sumud Flotilla is a coordinated, nonviolent fleet of mostly small vessels sailing from ports across the Mediterranean to break the Israeli occupation's illegal siege on Gaza,” it reads.

Read more: Dirco’s Zane Dangor speaks out on ICJ genocide case as Gaza teeters on edge of famine

Soomar said that while the activists were risking their lives on board the flotilla, “there’s so much more” that needs to be done by those not on board.

“We need eyes on the flotilla. The more eyes on the flotilla, the more it keeps us safe,” she said. “We need to continue to pressurise our governments. There’s more that they can do besides supporting the flotilla. They must cut ties [with Israel], [and] they must stop [supplying] weapons and funding to Israel.

“Everybody needs to do their part right now, and it doesn’t take an exceptional human being; it takes a human being with a heart, that’s all.”

‘A safe passage for humanitarian aid’

The humanitarian aid on board the GSF includes baby formula, diapers, medication and food.

“Everything that’s being carried is critical, but is not illegal in any way, shape or form. Nothing we are taking is of any contradictory nature, illegal or unsafe. It is [the] basic necessities needed to help the people of Gaza right now,” said Soomar.

“When we get to the shore, we are not planning on getting off the boats; we are really just wanting to establish a corridor — a safe passage for humanitarian aid.”

‘I am a daughter, I am a wife, I am a mother, I am a sibling — I’m a normal human being that does normal human being things every day. I’m leaving my three young children to risk my life; not anything extraordinary. My message is that it doesn’t take an extraordinary person to stand up. Every single one of us — whether you’re jumping on a boat or not — can play our part in stopping a genocide.' 

At least 361 Palestinians have died of starvation in Gaza, including 130 children, since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza, according to a report from Al Jazeera. Since Hamas’ 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, in which at least 1,200 people were killed and more than 200 hostages taken, Israel has killed more than 63,000 people in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Read more:

• ‘Widespread starvation’ – aid agencies warn of deepening humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
• Many of my staff can’t work because they are starving, says Gaza City hospital director

Last month, the world’s leading hunger monitoring agency, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, officially declared a famine in Gaza City, with more than half a million people affected.

“As this famine is entirely man-made, it can be halted and reversed,” said the report.

“The time for debate and hesitation has passed; starvation is present and is rapidly spreading. There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that an immediate, at-scale response is needed. Any further delay — even by days — will result in a totally unacceptable escalation of famine-related mortality,” it added.

A recent investigation by The Guardian found that data compiled by Israel’s own government makes clear that it has been starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. According to the publication, records from Cogat, the Israeli agency that controls aid shipments to Gaza, show that between March and June 2025, Israel allowed just 56,000 tonnes of food to enter the region — less than a quarter of Gaza’s minimum needs for that period.

Risks and safety concerns 

Since arriving in Tunisia, the South African delegation has been undergoing safety and non-violence training, said Sacks and Soomar. In addition to the 50 boats containing activists, there is a legal observer boat containing legal experts to monitor the situation.

“They won’t be trying to break the siege themselves, but they will be monitoring everyone that is,” said Sacks.

Israel has a history of intercepting flotillas attempting to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip. In 2010, Israeli commandos seized the Mavi Marmara in international waters, killing 10 Turkish activists and leading to global outrage, according to a report from Al Jazeera.

In June 2025, the Madleen, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and carrying Thunberg, was intercepted by the Israeli military about 185km from Gaza, Al Jazeera reported. Thunberg and the crew of activists were detained before being deported.

However, Soomar says she is not scared about what could happen to those in the flotilla.

“Whatever happens to us, we will continue coming back; we will not stop. There are 50-plus ships coming now, and if we are not successful in reaching the shores of Gaza, we will continue to come back until we are successful, until we break that siege and establish a humanitarian corridor,” said Soomar.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation’s spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, said: “Our embassies stand ready to provide consular support to all South Africans abroad.”

‘Mobilisation at a global level’

“You can only speak up and turn up for protests for only so much,” Wanner told Daily Maverick, about her decision to join the flotilla.

“My message, really, to the world is: don’t stop talking about Gaza. Keep your eyes on Gaza.”

Soomar said that ending the genocide in Gaza “requires mobilisation at a global level.

“Israel needs to understand that it’s facing the world here. They’re not dealing with individual countries … they’re actually dealing with the entire world when they’re doing this.”

This week, the world’s leading genocide scholars’ association passed a resolution saying that the legal criteria had been met to establish that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, Reuters reported. The publication reported that 86% of those in the 500-member association who voted backed the resolution.

Read more: Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, scholars’ association says

In December 2023, South Africa filed an application at the International Court of Justice to declare that Israel was violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. Almost two years later, the case is still ongoing.

“What Israel is doing is wrong. What Israel is doing is a genocide. It is the international consensus amongst genocide scholars that Israel is committing a genocide,” said Sacks. DM