The Gaza Flotilla Story You Didn’t Hear

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Gaza Flotilla Story You Didn’t Hear

Podcast: Reveal (The Center for Investigative Reporting & PRX)
Date: May 2, 2026
Host: Nadia Hamdan (for Al Letson)

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Overview

This compelling episode follows the harrowing journey of global activists determined to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza by sea. Told through exclusive first-hand accounts, it explores the people, motivations, perilous mission, violent confrontations, and aftermath of the 2025 Global Sumud Flotilla. The reporting digs into humanitarian intent, the politics of activism, the ethics of blockade enforcement, and the unexpected global impact of the mission — all providing a new perspective on one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introducing the Mission and the Stakes

• Nadia Hamdan introduces Luna SPU, a long-time friend and activist, who journeys as part of the “Global Sumud Flotilla” aiming to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza via sea.
• Sumud (“steadfastness” in Arabic) signals Palestinian endurance amid catastrophe — at the time, over 67,000 dead in Gaza, including 18,000 children (04:14).
• The mission frames itself as peaceful, law-abiding, though critics and the Israeli government allege it enables terrorism.

2. Assembling the Flotilla – Diversity, Celebrity, and Tension

• Activists from 45+ countries (total 462 people, 42 boats), including ordinary citizens, celebrities, and social media influencers (07:58, 11:43).
• Recruiting influencers is “absolutely a publicity stunt, but why wouldn’t you use every tool available?” argues Carsey Blanton, singer-songwriter and participant (08:51).
• Preparation chaos: Most volunteers know little about sailing; the project’s scale leads to constant delays and organizational mutinies (17:03).

3. History and Legality of Gaza’s Naval Blockade

• Blockade in place since 2009 — Israel justifies it as a military necessity, opponents argue it’s illegal collective punishment (11:47).
• Interception of flotillas is routine, but in 2010 deadly violence on Mavi Marmara shocks the world (10 killed; ICC called it a war crime) (12:54).
• Israel’s government claims new flotilla members are “terrorists,” threatening severe action (13:07, 14:05).

4. Escalating Dangers – Drone Attacks and Onboard Mutiny

• The lead flotilla ship is attacked by drones in Tunisian port – reportedly approved by Israeli PM Netanyahu, according to CBS sources (14:19).
• Activists interpret drone attacks as failed intimidation. Instead, they inspire more media and public attention. “We have the attention of the world in a way that is unusual,” says Blanton (15:58).
• Disorganization, stress, interpersonal frustrations lead to near-mutiny—resolved only when captains band together and issue demands (18:43).
• Memorable moment: “You’re about to have a mutiny on your hands.” — Hamish Patterson, captain (18:28).

5. Setting Sail – Joy, Community, and Training Under Threat

• Flotilla finally departs. Onboard mood mixes euphoria, dread, and camaraderie. Music, dolphins, group singing… until reality sets in (19:44–21:00, 23:12).

• All must learn basic seamanship — including night watches and navigation under constant drone surveillance (24:07).

• Rigorous emergency drills: Preparing for possible military interception, passports ready, hands up, captain never identified (25:07).

• Unnerving psychological warfare: Radios hijacked, ABBA’s “Take a Chance on Me” blares during a tense night, signaling imminent danger (26:23).

  “It was very horror movie like.”
  — Carsey Blanton (26:52)

6. Confrontation at Sea: Drone Strikes & International Incident

• Series of explosions from drones—flashbangs and incendiaries—near and on flotilla boats in international waters (28:16).
• The crew’s fear is palpable: “Cover, cover, cover!” — Luna SPU as a drone hovers directly overhead (29:27).
• No serious injuries, but several boats are damaged. About a dozen activists leave, but most continue, galvanized by international protests.
• Political response: Spain and Italy dispatch military escorts; Turkey sends drones. Flotilla’s global support grows (32:19).

7. Israeli Military Intercepts the Flotilla

• Within 150 nautical miles of Gaza, military vessels approach, warn flotilla to divert or face consequences (33:08).
• Activists cite international law: “Article 59 of the Geneva Convention requires the occupying power to supply or allow aid” — defiance continues (34:11).
• Israeli navy’s blockade enforcement: Boarding, water cannons, guns pointed, communications destroyed, crew zip-tied and detained (35:24).
• Luna SPU: “Before they boarded, we were at gunpoint. Like you could see the laser on our chest.” (36:20)
• All phones and computers are thrown overboard to prevent data seizure. The navy boards and takes over all boats over nearly 48 hours (36:05).

8. Imprisonment in the Negev: Detainees and Conditions

• Activists processed, refused to sign confessions (“we were kidnapped, not entering illegally”), labeled “terrorists” by officials (38:37).
• Notable participant: Greta Thunberg, humiliated and harassed by Israeli soldiers (38:06).
• Detainees allege beatings, deprivation of medication, food, and water, and psychological abuse (39:26).
• Israeli government denies maltreatment but claims “whoever supports terrorism is a terrorist” (39:54).
• Yassine Benjalun: “We had it way easy. It was Disneyland for us... we had good passports, the world’s cameras. For Palestinians, it’s indefinite detention, invisible suffering.” (40:35)

9. Release, Aftermath, and Global Reverberations

• Sorted and released by nationality; US citizens among last to leave. US Embassy offer little support — “half a bag of pretzels” (47:51).

• Emotional moments: The mere distraction caused by the flotilla allowed Gazan fishermen to return to sea for two days; “We did something.” (49:12)

• Direct testimony from Gaza (Abir Barakat): Flotilla inspired solidarity and hope, far from being a self-serving publicity stunt (52:16).

  “To see international activists sailing toward Gaza… tells Palestinians, you are not alone and the world still sees you.”
  — Abir Barakat, Gaza (52:19)

• The mission’s suppression inspires global protest: Strikes, rallies, and even the expulsion of Israeli diplomats by Colombia (53:42).

• Surveys by NYT and Gallup: For the first time, more Americans now sympathize with Palestinians than Israelis (54:04).

10. Enduring Impact and Reflections

• Flotilla did not physically break the blockade, but shifted public awareness, inspired action, and provided brief relief to Gaza’s people.
• As long as the blockade remains, organizers promise: “flotillas will continue.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Motivation:
  “It's just tough because, like, these are humans. I mean, the level of rage that we've been feeling is extraordinary. And it's really hard to stay sane.”
  — Luna SPU (07:13)

• On Publicity Stunts:
  “…of course it’s a publicity stunt. So much of politics is propaganda… If you can get 100 influencers onto some sailboats to make your own propaganda for free, definitely do that.”
  — Carsey Blanton (08:51)

• On the Threats:
  “If we would let them scare us, why would we then continue or even start this mission? I think it’s important that we just continue and we’ll see what happens.”
  — Luna SPU (14:05)

• During the ABBA Incident:
  “It was very horror movie like.”
  — Carsey Blanton (26:52)

• As the Drones Attack:
  “Cover, cover, cover!”
  — Luna SPU (29:27)

• On Being Labeled a Terrorist:
  “Hey man, my boat just had baby formula… this guy looks at me and says, fine, future terrorists. That’s when I was like, oh man, that there, that’s fucked up, dude.”
  — Narrator/Reporter (38:37–38:59)

• On Detention vs. Imprisonment:
  “Being detained is not like being in prison. It’s not. You don’t have anything. You have no control, you have no information and you have no rights. They can do whatever they want to you.”
  — Carsey Blanton (39:11)

• In Gaza:
  “To see international activists sailing toward Gaza… reminds us that our struggle is not isolated… you are not alone and the world still sees you.”
  — Abir Barakat (52:19)

• On Hope and Global Solidarity:
  “Justice for Palestine has become a global issue of conscience. People everywhere are connecting the dots between Gaza and the broader struggles for equality and liberation. So that, to me, is a source of real hope.”
  — Abir Barakat (53:42)

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Key Timestamps

• 02:04 — Start of Luna’s journey and mission explained
• 04:14 — Gaza context: death toll, famine, UN genocide claims
• 07:58 — Carsey Blanton on Jewish identity post-October 7th
• 08:51 — Flotilla, influencers, and the “publicity stunt” debate
• 12:54 — Recall of the 2010 Mavi Marmara incident
• 14:05 — Israeli threats, drone attacks in Tunisian port
• 17:03 — Delays, mutiny, organizational struggles
• 19:44 — Flotilla sets sail; mood shifts
• 23:35 — Singing, dolphins, communal bonding at sea
• 26:23 — Radio hijack, ABBA incident
• 28:16 — Drones strike the flotilla
• 33:08 — Approaching Gaza, Israeli military warnings
• 35:24 — Israeli navy boards, detains flotilla
• 39:26 — Reports of mistreatment in prison
• 49:12 — Flotilla’s indirect impact: Palestine fishing
• 52:19 — Abir’s statement on international solidarity
• 53:42 — Worldwide protest response
• 54:04 — Shifting public opinion in the US

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Final Reflections

The episode skillfully reports not just a high-stakes international incident, but the moral complexities and personal risks behind direct action. Through vivid storytelling and unsparing testimony, it highlights both the impotence and impact of symbolic resistance, the limits of humanitarian intervention, and the indomitable spirit of solidarity — even in defeat. The flotilla did not “break the blockade,” but it did fracture the silence.

Not just a story of boats, but of the dreams and defiance they carried.

Transcript

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[Nadia Hamdan]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Nadia Hamdan, sitting in for Aletson in late September, somewhere on the Mediterranean Sea. My friend Luna SPU sent me this voice note.

[Luna SPU]

It's crazy to know that I'm laying in a room where to my left and right and everywhere around me is the sea. I don't know if you can hear it in the background, but that's the sea.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The engine is off and the boat is just drifting. Luna is laying on her back looking through a ceiling window and I'm seeing

[Luna SPU]

a bit of the sky with very visible bright stars, two drones and just a very clear Milky Way. It's such A gorgeous image. I think I need to sit with it. And then the sound of the sea. Gorgeous.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Less than 48 hours after sending me this message, Luna would be detained by the Israeli navy, driven out to the Negev desert, and locked up in one of the country's most brutal prisons. All because she wanted to deliver aid to Gaza.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Israeli forces have intercepted a number of boats that are part of a flotilla attempting to break the naval blockade of Gaza.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Luna was on One of the 42 boats that sailed to Gaza last year as part of the Global Sumud flotilla. It's described itself as a peaceful, nonviolent mission attempting to create a humanitarian corridor by sea. Sumud means steadfastness in Arabic, a reference to what Palestinians have been forced to endure the last two and a half years. In Gaza, the death toll is believed to have surpassed 67,000. Among that number is more than 18,000 children. It is a famine.

[Yassine Benjalun]

The Gaza famine.

[Nadia Hamdan]

A United nations investigation team says Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians. Today we're rebroadcasting an episode we first aired last fall. We're revisiting it now because an even bigger flotilla recently set sail toward Gaza. But from the start, things didn't go as planned. Some people left the mission out of safety concerns raised by the Iran war. A member of the steering committee was accused of sexual misconduct, which organizers say is unfounded. And then, in an unprecedented move, the Israeli navy began intercepting the flotilla off the coast of Greece, more than 600 nautical miles from Gaza. Israel has intercepted flotillas before, but but never this far from its shore. When last year's flotilla was first announced, people didn't really take it seriously. Nearly 500 well meaning activists, many of whom had never sailed a day in their life, crowded onto a bunch of boats, thinking they could end one of the worst humanitarian crises on the planet. With Instagram, it was easy to dismiss the flotilla. Until it wasn't. So today we join Luna and her crewmates for an exclusive look into that first voyage. I've known Luna for over a decade. We met back in my early 20s when we were both living in Beirut and then again in Berlin. We used to see each other almost every day. But then I moved back to the US and we got busy with our own respective lives on different continents. Nowadays we go long stretches without speaking. But when she went on the flotilla, I was back to checking in with her daily, asking for updates. Boats taking part in the flotilla originated from several ports, including Spain, Tunisia, and the port of Catania in Sicily, which is where Luna arrived. On August 31st.

[Luna SPU]

Good morning. It's 7:58.

[Nadia Hamdan]

She started sending me voice notes right away.

[Luna SPU]

Hola. Okay. I had my first sip of coffee, so needed. I have no idea how I'm going to do it. On the boat.

[Nadia Hamdan]

It very quickly started to feel like I was there with her.

[Luna SPU]

There was a baby cat. You would love it.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Luna is Moroccan, but born and raised in Germany. A mother of two, she's soft spoken but formidable, with dark curly hair and a line tattoo down the middle of her chin meant to reflect her ancestral connection to the indigenous people of North Africa known as the Amazigh. And Luna has always considered herself an activist. For her, some things are just black and white, right or wrong. And for as long as I've known her, Palestinian solidarity has always been one of those hard lines. But it reached an inflection point during the war in Gaza.

[Luna SPU]

It's just tough because, like, these are humans. I mean, the level of rage that we've been feeling is extraordinary. And it's really hard to stay sane.

[Nadia Hamdan]

So when one of the organizers of the Global Sumud flotilla invited her to join, she was interested. But she'd never done anything remotely like this before. She'd also never left her kids this long. Still, if there was a chance it could make even a modicum of difference, it would be worth it. So she said yes. One of the people Luna would sail with is Carsey Blanton, a singer songwriter based in New Jersey.

[Carsey Blanton]

When October 7th happened, and it became clear very quickly that as a Jewish person, like, my identity was being used in this propaganda push against Palestinian people, that was not okay with me.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Carsey was already a public figure with a large social media following, which made her a perfect candidate for the flotilla.

[Carsey Blanton]

I got a DM from someone who was like, recruiting influencers to go on the flotilla, and they were like, would you ever consider applying? And I was like, I already applied. You have my application. Call me anytime.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This aspect of the flotilla, that it was actively recruiting influencers and celebrities, has been a point of contention for some. The Israeli Foreign Ministry called it a, quote, selfie yacht. And critics have argued that many people on the boat were just doing it for attention and it was nothing more than a publicity stunt.

[Carsey Blanton]

And my take on that is like, yes, of course it's a publicity stunt. Like, so much of politics is propaganda, and Israel and the US are making, like, trillions of dollars worth of propaganda all the time. So if you can get 100 influencers onto some sailboats to make your own propaganda for free, definitely do That I saw.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Carsey Bland had a video out saying that she was joining the Global Smooth Flotilla.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Dane Hunter is from the British Virgin Islands and has been a fan of Carsey's music for years. So he messaged her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I just commented on her video saying, hey, I'm a sailor, like, wondering if they need any hands.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Carsey quickly connected him with one of the organizers for a phone interview.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And they asked if I could come out the next day. And I said sure.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Dane arrived in Sicily on September 1st to help prepare the boats.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In terms of what kind of boats, we had all of them. We had sailboats, we had motorboats, we had small boats, we had big boats, very Dr. Seuss kind of boats. The common denominator, I would say was fixer upper.

[Nadia Hamdan]

So Dane joined a group of volunteers who had to make sure they were all ship shape, or as Luna put

[Luna SPU]

it, ship shift, ship shift safe, making all ships safe, ship shift safe. And then we have to make everything shape shift, ship safe. What is that word? Shapeshift.

[Nadia Hamdan]

She ultimately got there. Plumbers, electricians, engineers, organizers say they all donated their time and expertise to outfit these rinky dink boats. Not just making sure they were safe, but also jury rigging them with things like Starlink and cameras so they could live stream their journey on social media.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Me and the mechanic would look at each other and we'd be like, I mean it's a one way trip. It really just needs to hold up for three weeks. And we'd be like, zip ties. Yeah, zip ties. Let's do that.

[Yassine Benjalun]

So many people now. You just came to Catania just to help prepare the boats, which is enormous, enormous amount of work.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This is Yassine Benjalun who also arrived early to help prepare the boats. Yossin works for a tech company. He's Moroccan, but was born and raised in Montreal and currently lives in Paris.

[Yassine Benjalun]

You hear your parents talk about how the first Intifada, the second intifada, people's homes getting stolen and people not being able to come back. And so all these conversations growing up, you know, they are why I think I went on this.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Flotilla organizers say the boats would be loaded with as much aid as they could carry. Things like canned foods, medicine and baby formula.

[Yassine Benjalun]

It's nothing in comparison to what they need.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And once they were all ready to go, they would all leave from Sicily together and sail towards Gaza.

[Yassine Benjalun]

Many of us have never sailed before. Most of us, I would argue.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The Global Summit flotilla says there were a total of 42 boats carrying 462 people from 45 different countries. This was undoubtedly the largest and most ambitious flotilla attempting to sail to Gaza. But it was not the first. Israel's naval blockade of Gaza began in 2009, a year and a half after Hamas took control of the territory. Israeli officials argued that it was necessary to prevent the group from getting weapons delivered by sea. But critics of the blockade have long argued that it violates international law because it's collectively punishing Palestinian civilians, severely restricting their movements, the importing of goods, even their ability to fish. Since Israel's blockade began, dozens of flotillas have tried to reach Gaza and create a humanitarian corridor. In those first few years, everything remained largely peaceful, and five flotillas actually made it to Gaza. But that changed in 2010. Aboard the Mavi Marmara, tens of people,

[Luna SPU]

civilians, have been injured. There are still sounds of live fire, despite the white flag being raised on board the ship, which holds 600, all of whom are civilians.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Ten people were killed by Israeli forces. An investigation by the International Criminal Court said it believed what happened on the Mavi Marmara constituted a war crime. Israel agreed to pay $20 million in restitution to the families of the victims. And still the flotillas have not stopped. Most of them have been intercepted by the Israeli navy and the people arrested and sent home. All of this was expressly laid out to everyone going on this flotilla. And on top of all of that, Israel's National Security Minister, Itmar Ben Gvir, had publicly called everyone on the flotilla a terrorist, alleging that they were not actually humanitarians, but Hamas collaborators. And they will, quote, meet a firm and unyielding response from Israel. I asked Luna if this worried her

[Luna SPU]

at all, if we would let them scare us, why would we then continue or even start this mission? I think it's important that we just continue and we'll see what happens.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The Barcelona fleet had already been sailing for a week when they stopped in a Tunisian port on September 7. The plan was to take a break and then continue on to meet the rest of the fleet in sicily. But around 11:30pm the following night, A drone dropped an incendiary device on the family, the lead boat carrying all the main organizers of the flotilla. The fire was put out and no one was hurt. GSF organizer Yasmin Achar quickly took to social media and accused Israel of the attack. They have bombed a boat once again with civilians on it in Tunisian territory. This is an attack against Gaza because they don't want us there. Then a second drone attack happened the following night. Again, there were no injuries or damage. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations that they were responsible for these attacks. But CBS news reported that two American intelligence officials, speaking under anonymity, told them that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had approved the strikes and that the drones had been launched from a nearby submarine. A few people reportedly left the mission after the attacks, But Luna said most everyone she spoke to saw this as nothing more than a scare tactic. For Carsey, this was not only a scare tactic, but a big miscalculation.

[Carsey Blanton]

I remember my mom sent me a New York Times article about that, and I remember walking around the port in Sicily, like, did you guys see this? The New York Times covered it. We have the attention of the world in a way that is unusual. And so, again, we have to see this thing through.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Most people just continued as normal, loading boats and preparing to set sail. Luna's boat was called Paula 1. It's a small sailboat that can fit 10 people. And Luna tells me she hasn't always liked everyone she's met on this mission, but she liked her crew. It wasn't long before they were all laughing and playing music together. The vibes were good. The boat was loaded, and they were ready to go. But they were told they had to wait for the fleets coming from Tunisia, who were still running behind.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then they kind of kept telling us, so, one more day, you know, just one more day, guys. And it really got to the point where it was feeling like, you know, one of those friends calling you up, saying, oh, I'm almost there. And, you know, they haven't even put their pants on yet.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Everyone in Sicily had originally been told they would set sail on September 4th, and the entire trip was supposed to take around two weeks total. Now it was pushing two weeks, and they hadn't even started sailing. Boats kept breaking down. There were weather concerns. Seasickness was a real issue. Not to mention, the steering committee was also juggling the wants and needs of nearly 500 different people.

[Yassine Benjalun]

I would argue maybe 60% of the mission was to manage everyone's desires and fears and complications and baggage and, you know, the way they see life.

[Nadia Hamdan]

People were getting antsy. Some had kids back home, parents with dementia. A few even lost their jobs to be here. They were getting nervous that this whole thing was about to fall apart. Not to mention the airstrikes in Gaza were only intensifying. And some people couldn't hide their frustrations anymore. This is Hamish Patterson, captain of the boat, Oahu, in one of the many zoom meetings they had about the delays.

[Luna SPU]

Yes,

[Nadia Hamdan]

okay, I'm not Gonna hang up. And I'm not going to get shut down because I'm sick of getting shut down. And I'm going to call it now for what it is. You're about to have a mutiny on your hands. And there was a minor mutiny of sorts.

[Carsey Blanton]

We're not waiting anymore.

[Abir Barakat]

We're going.

[Carsey Blanton]

But then only three of us actually left. And then a fourth boat had to come get us physically and say, we're

[Nadia Hamdan]

forming a captain's union, come back. After Paolo one and the other boats returned. Captains came together and created a list of demands to the steering committee. Any boats that weren't ready to sail right now would not go on the mission. And they would leave the following day at 10am no question.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And if they were not all met, every captain would walk.

[Nadia Hamdan]

So the steering committee agreed.

[Carsey Blanton]

And so the miracle to me was that we did kind of reorganize it from within. And also, nobody canceled it. Like, you got 500 leftists from everywhere in the world to get together, do a thing that was clearly not very functional. And instead of like whistleblowing on each other, everybody just like, got our hands dirty and made it work. And to me, that's like the proudest. That's a really proud moment for the left.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And so the Global Sumud Flotilla officially set sail.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Oh, man. So getting underway finally was magical. Everybody cheering, everybody's screaming, get out of here.

[Luna SPU]

Let's go.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Just this sense of, you know, we're, we're doing it, you know, all of this preparation, all of this work, it's actually come together and we're sailing east. Finally, we're heading towards Gaza

[Nadia Hamdan]

with sails unfurled. Paula1 joins dozens of boats heading across the Mediterranean. There's a feeling of hope on the high seas.

[Narrator/Reporter]

There's a cargo ship.

[Luna SPU]

Oh, my gosh.

[Nadia Hamdan]

But it wouldn't last long. That's coming up on Reveal.

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[Josh Sandburn]

This is Josh Sandburn, producer at Reveal. This episode is made possible by support from League of Conservation Voters. April is Earth Month, a time to honor the natural wonders that define our home and sustain our future. Our public lands should be a living legacy, accessible for generations to come. But right now, they're at risk of being sold off to business for profit. That's why the League of Conservation Voters is fighting to safeguard these treasures. LCV is dedicated to safeguarding our environment for Future Generations. Visit LCV.orgMotherJones to donate today and help keep public lands in public hands.

[Yassine Benjalun]

Storms, floods and fires are ever more extreme. And yet the Federal Emergency Management Agency is fighting for its life.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I've never been a big fan of FEMA.

[Jane Butcher]

FEMA's a disaster.

[Narrator/Reporter]

FEMA's a dirty word.

[Abir Barakat]

People are waking up in droves to the FEMA camps.

[Yassine Benjalun]

Can the agency survive the stories that have been told about it? And can we survive without fema? The Movement to Kill FEMA is a brand new series from WNYC's on the Media. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

[Nadia Hamdan]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Nadia Hamdan sitting in for Al Letson. And today we're bringing back an episode about the flotilla that sailed to Gaza this past fall.

[Yassine Benjalun]

The day we left, I was jumping on the boat, chanting, and I kept, you know, doing the very loud horn all the time.

[Nadia Hamdan]

After weeks of feeling stuck, everyone on Paola 1 comes alive on the water. It starts to feel a little like a Disney movie. Luna sends me videos of sunrises, dolphins, And of Carsi leading everyone in song at sunset.

[Carsey Blanton]

We don't survive.

[Luna SPU]

We don't survive.

[Carsey Blanton]

We keep that little flame alive. It was so beautiful. It was like the most beautiful experience of my life and the hardest. It was the best of times and

[Nadia Hamdan]

the worst of times because it's not all sing alongs and lovable sea creatures for one. They all have to get a crash course in sailing. The plan is to take shifts manning the boat at night so everyone can get some sleep.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And so I was teaching all of my crew in the night and quizzing them constantly, like, okay, that boat. Do we have to worry about it? No. You know, they're off our starboard and they're going starboard. Correct. That boat. Do we have to worry about. Yes, yes, we do. Let's turn right now.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Okay, we're going to attack.

[Luna SPU]

We got attack.

[Yassine Benjalun]

Until I get there.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I'm going to attack.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ready to attack.

[Luna SPU]

Ready to tack.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Everybody on board. Paola came out as a sailor.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Nice. Looking good.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And while things are pretty mellow, the boats are being followed by a few drones.

[Luna SPU]

I'm actually seeing one right now. It's above Our window above the mast.

[Nadia Hamdan]

They're far enough away that they don't feel threatening. But the crew wants to be prepared for anything. So at night they practice drills on how they would respond in different emergency situations. Luna records one of these drills in which she pretends to be the Israeli Defense Forces coming to arrest them.

[Luna SPU]

Shit, shit, shit. They're coming. They're coming. Get your passports, your phone, everything. Hurry up.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The goal is to get passports ready, life vests on, and hands in the air as fast as possible.

[Luna SPU]

Who's the captain? Who's the captain? Who's the captain? Are you the captain?

[Nadia Hamdan]

They all stay silent because they were instructed not to identify the captain.

[Luna SPU]

Okay, let's see how much fun that was.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And everyone learns just how loud a soft spoken Luna can be.

[Luna SPU]

I'm sorry. Two and a half minutes.

[Nadia Hamdan]

By the fifth night on the water, the crew is feeling pretty confident.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was a very calm evening.

[Nadia Hamdan]

There's a light breeze, virtually no waves.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And I think I even mentioned to Luna, yeah, I think I'm actually going to get some rest tonight.

[Nadia Hamdan]

It's Luna's shift at this point. Dane trusts her at the helm, so he tells her to just wake him up if there are any issues. And then something strange happens with the two way radio.

[Luna SPU]

Can we turn up the volume?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yeah.

[Luna SPU]

Heard something. There was something here, right?

[Nadia Hamdan]

The ABBA song Take a Chance on Me starts blaring on the flotilla's radio frequency.

[Luna SPU]

Should we wake people up with just to stay alert? I think so.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Serious?

[Luna SPU]

What the fuck?

[Carsey Blanton]

It was cutting in and out and they scrambled our own communications. And it'd be like. And then Take A Chance On Me would play. It was very horror movie like.

[Luna SPU]

This is fucking creepy.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Yeah, this is creepy.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Most of the crew is getting nervous and starts scanning the skies for drones.

[Yassine Benjalun]

Like a star became a drone, an airplane became a drone. The word drone was said out loud many times when it was not.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yasine even tells Carsi, maybe we're overreacting.

[Yassine Benjalun]

And she's like, yeah, I don't really know, but okay. So I go to bed. We're sharing a bunk bed and I hear a huge explosion.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Now Luna and I had been texting since that ABBA song first came on the radio. I remember telling her I had a bad feeling, but she told me not to worry, this is just another scare tactic. And then, I kid you not, I get a text, literally a second later that just reads bomb, exclamation point. I text her, no answer. I call her. No answer. I remember just feeling paralyzed. Finally, after the longest few minutes of my life, she calls me, and I just stay on the phone and listen.

[Luna SPU]

Five drones on starboard side. One phone is getting lower.

[Nadia Hamdan]

At this point, everyone is on deck, scanning the skies. The first explosion they had only heard, it had gone off somewhere in the back of the fleet. Ten to 15 minutes later, there's another explosion.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And that one we actually saw. We saw the bright flash of it. And then we really realized just how many drones were all around us. I mean, yeah, the sky was littered with stars and drones.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Then another explosion.

[Luna SPU]

Explosion in front one.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And another.

[Abir Barakat]

Oh, shit.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And another explosion.

[Luna SPU]

Fuck. Which boat is that? Salvatia, you okay? Is everyone okay?

[Nadia Hamdan]

For Dane, the scariest moment is when a drone hovers right over their boat.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And we could hear this thing. We could see this thing. It was like a massive wasp. And right away, I remember Luna called out for everybody to get down, and we all just hunkered in place.

[Luna SPU]

Cover, cover, cover.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We all got down, and we all braced.

[Luna SPU]

Oh, my God. It's okay.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Breathe. I stay glued to my phone as reports of the attacks begin to reach the news and social media.

[Yassine Benjalun]

And at that moment, Nadia, I look at my phone, and so I grew up in the Muslim faith, the Islamic faith, and there's this very famous sentence, I'm sure you maybe heard or not, that Muslims say the moment they think they're going to die or the moment they die.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The phrase is, inna lilahi wa inna ilahi raja.

[Yassine Benjalun]

We belong to God, and to God we shall return. And so I look at my phone and I see my mother sends me in Arabic, that text message. And that was pretty hard to live, because am I gonna die? Like, is this the end?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Thankfully, his mother was wrong.

[Carsey Blanton]

After four or five strikes, it became clear they were all at the front of the boats. They were all near the sails. And then we're like, okay. They're trying to, like, make us scared and. Or hurt our sails.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Soon the sun starts to come up. Four hours have gone by, and I'm still on the phone with Luna. Does it seem to be calming down?

[Luna SPU]

It's hard to say.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I know

[Luna SPU]

that was pretty excited.

[Nadia Hamdan]

In the end, organizers say there were at least 13 explosions on or around the boats. We learned later that these were mainly a mix of flashbangs and incendiary devices that did end up damaging three of the boats. No injuries were reported. This all happened in international waters just south of Crete. So the flotilla decides to stop in Greek waters to regroup process. They quickly point their fingers at Israel, which neither confirms nor denies the allegations. And after hearing reports there could be more attacks, about a dozen people decide to leave. Those who stay still believe all of this was a scare tactic, a way to get them to abandon the mission. But they don't want to stop. And it turns out thousands of other people don't want them to stop either. Protests break out in places like Italy, Spain, Turkey, and Ireland. And that protest pressure actually seems to do something. Both Spain and Italy agree to send warships to accompany the flotilla as a precaution. And Turkey, a couple military drones.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This mission has become about more than delivering aid. It's testing the gap between the world's rhetoric and its willingness to act.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And so the flotilla sets sail once more. It's September 29th, a month since Luna left home. And this is the moment where we began, with Luna laying on her back, looking through a ceiling window as the boat just drifts.

[Luna SPU]

And I'm seeing a bit of the sky with very visible bright stars, two drones, and just a very clear Milky Way. It's such a gorgeous image. I think I need to sit with it.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This would be the last moment of calm for Paolo I. Two days after leaving Greece, the flotilla is within 150 nautical miles of Gaza. The Spanish and Italian warships turn around, but people start noticing other military vessels in the distance, and they keep getting closer. On October 1st, this message comes across everyone's radio. This is the Israeli Navy. You are approaching a blockaded zone, attempting to reach the Gaza Strip via sea. While breaching the naval blockade violates international law, the Israeli Navy urges the flotilla to redirect their boats to the port of Ashdod in Israel, where the military would deliver the aid for them. Any further attempt to sail toward Gaza endangers your safety and places you within an active war zone. You will bear full responsibility for your actions.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Luna and I responded to them on the radio. Each time they would send a message

[Nadia Hamdan]

like that, they would quote various international laws, including Article 59 of the Geneva Convention, which basically requires any occupying power to either supply the civilian population with basic necessities such as food, water, medicine, and clothing, or allow safe passage for humanitarian groups like the Red Cross, who can provide that assistance. So despite the warnings from Israel, the Global Sumud Flotilla continues towards Gaza.

[Luna SPU]

Because the protocols that you go, we don't stop, we just continue.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The flotilla is currently in international waters, and this is where things get really nuanced. According to the un, everyone is allowed freedom of navigation on international waters and cannot be intercepted, save some exceptions, such as piracy and the slave Trade. That's why the activists and some legal experts say interception of any kind is illegal. But Israel argues that under the laws of naval warfare, if someone tries to breach a military blockade, a navy is within its right to intercept them. And so they do.

[Luna SPU]

Behind me is the military vessel.

[Nadia Hamdan]

They are intercepting us right now. We do not know how they will intercept us. Una's crewmates send me videos. It's dark, but you can see some stuff. Bright lights shining onto the boat, Zodiacs speeding by, nearby boats being hit with giant water cannons.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You know, there was a submarine out there with us. There was this big like mothership, huge barge looking thing. There were like three frigates versus, you know, 40 boats that we like patched together with duct tape.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The navy boards boats one by one and takes over the controls. Everyone throws their phones and computers in the water so that the Israeli military can't access their data. So when I stop Getting videos from Paula1, I know it must be happening.

[Luna SPU]

Before they boarded, we were at gunpoint. Like you could see the laser on our chest.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And their very first command was shut your eyes. And we heard them quietly, methodically going around, tearing off the starlink, tearing off the camera, checking the inside of the boat.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The first question they ask is, who is the captain?

[Narrator/Reporter]

And nobody said anything. Oh, so you're all the captain. You think this is funny? And then just guns cocking. And we all just quickly, you know, wipe the smile off our faces.

[Nadia Hamdan]

It takes the Israeli navy nearly 48 hours to take over all the boats. Everyone is brought to the port of Ashdod and made to sit on the ground of a parking lot, zip tied for hours. It's late at night when Israel's National Security Minister, Itmar Ben Givir, arrives at the port.

[Carsey Blanton]

And so then we're like, oh, that's why they zip tied us, so that Ben GVIR can like post on his TikTok, like, look at all these things.

[Abir Barakat]

Terrorists.

[Carsey Blanton]

We're treating them like terrorists.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Ben Gvir's video cuts off abruptly. I'm told this was because everyone started chanting Free Palestine at one point. Luna remembers people yelling behind her and tries to see what's happening.

[Luna SPU]

And I see that they've placed a woman on the ground right in front of an Israeli flag. Someone pulled her hair so that she would have her head looking at the flag. And she must have been there for hours. And then I realized, fuck, that's Kaeta.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Greta Thunberg, the now famous climate activist, was on the flotilla and seemed to be singled out by the soldiers.

[Luna SPU]

They would Take selfies. They would spit at her, they would kick her and fix the flag so that it would touch her constantly.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Everyone is then sent through an immigration processing center. They're asked to sign a document saying they illegally entered the country of Israel. Everyone on Palo one refuses to sign it, arguing that they never wanted to come here and had been kidnapped. Dane remembers one Israeli soldier turns to him and says, you're helping terrorists.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And I push back, saying, hey man, my boat just had baby formula and I kid you not, this guy, without blinking, looks at me and says, fine, future terrorists. That's when I was like, oh man, that there, that's fucked up, dude. Like, how do you. How do you fix that?

[Nadia Hamdan]

People on previous flotillas have been detained in the past, but this was the first time they were sent to Ketsiyot, a high security detention facility deep in the Negev desert.

[Carsey Blanton]

That was the part that, like, for my soft Western brain, was a new understanding. Being detained is not like being in prison. It's not. You don't have anything. You have no control, you have no information and you have no rights. They can do whatever they want to you.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And the firsthand accounts paint a disturbing picture. Some allege being beaten and kicked, threatened and humiliated, denied medication, food for long periods and clean drinking water for days, woken up in the middle of the night with dogs barking in their faces. Others say they were forced to stand outside in the hot sun for hours until they fainted.

[Carsey Blanton]

I mean, it was devastating.

[Nadia Hamdan]

The Israeli Foreign Ministry called the claims of mistreatment, quote, brazen lies and that all detainees legal rights were fully upheld. But their national security minister, Ben Gvir, said he was proud of the fact that they were treating the activists like terrorists. In a statement, he said, whoever supports terrorism is a terrorist. It is worthwhile for them to experience the conditions in Ketziot prison and think twice before they come close to Israel again. Yassine and everyone else I spoke to were quick to make one thing. This was nothing compared to what Palestinian detainees were experiencing.

[Yassine Benjalun]

I know for a fact that we got it like way easy. It was Disneyland for us. You know, we were on a field trip of a prison experience because, you know, we had the good passports, we had the cameras of the world looking at us.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Amnesty International and the Israeli human rights group B'tsellem have accused Israeli authorities of abuse and inhumane treatment of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom are being held under administrative detention, a policy that allows officials to hold people without charges or a formal trial indefinitely. According to data from B'Tsellam as of September 2025, nearly 3,500 administrative detainees were being held across the Israeli prison system.

[Yassine Benjalun]

And so what we did is to start shouting, shouting chants. Free, free Palestine. Free, free Palestine. And you know that they hear you. You know that they're there.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Yasine, Luna and Dane joined dozens of people who took part in a hunger strike while they were detained.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then one guard was trying to force me to take a sandwich, and I was telling him, you know, give it to a Palestinian. Like, I'm not. I'm not eating any of your food. And, yeah, I just threw the sandwich at him. I just couldn't help myself.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Everyone from Paola 1 tells me the entire experience only made them feel closer to the very people they spent years protesting for. Carsi remembers finding a broken pen hidden in one of the cells.

[Carsey Blanton]

Like, without the plastic part, just the inside part of the pen. Like, this was almost certainly a Palestinian prisoner smuggled this pen in here and they could have been in here for years.

[Nadia Hamdan]

They all remember seeing writing all over their cell walls, mostly in Arabic. People wrote their names where they were from. Phrases like, God, give us strength. There were also poems and song verses,

[Carsey Blanton]

like, some of them were songwriters. You know, like, I'm not different from

[Nadia Hamdan]

these people using that same pen. They all added their own names to the cell walls. And next to them, they drew a sailboat. Coming up, the prisoners from the flotilla are released. And even though they didn't reach Gaza, they're surprised to learn their voyage still had an impact.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Carson and I looked at each other and we just said we did something.

[Nadia Hamdan]

You're listening to Reveal.

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[Nadia Hamdan]

From the center for Investigative Reporting and prx, this is Reveal. I'm Nadia Hamdan sitting in for owl Edson. It's October 7th and a crowd has formed at the Athens airport to welcome back around 160 flotilla members who have just been released from Ketzyut prison. Greta Thunberg is one of them. And I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment, trust me, but that is not the story. Most people's stuff was either tossed or confiscated, but Greta got her luggage back. Except now the words Whore Greta were written on it with permanent marker. Next to that, a drawing of an Israeli flag and a penis. Luna was on the same flight as Greta after nearly a week in detainment.

[Luna SPU]

I think a lot of us have underestimated the impact of like the violence that we've endured, but we're processing. It might take some time, but. Have you called a therapist yet?

[Nadia Hamdan]

Luna's partner Nina is sitting next to her.

[Luna SPU]

I messaged him.

[Nadia Hamdan]

We reached out to the Israeli government multiple times to ask about the allegations of mistreatment in Ketziot and what evidence they had to suggest the activists were colluding with Hamas. We asked about the drone attacks and allegations that the Israeli military was responsible and we wanted to know what happened to the aid after the boats were confiscated by the navy. Israeli officials did not respond. Everyone on the flotilla wasn't released all at once. Remember, these are people from dozens of different countries and each of their respective embassies was handling the release of its own citizens. Yassine was one of the first to

[Yassine Benjalun]

leave and I was there, you know, drinking water, having my meal on Turkish Airlines, flying over Gaza, the place where we were trying to enter. And it just, it felt so surreal, so surreal.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Car, Dane and other U.S. citizens were held another three days, making them some of the last to leave.

[Carsey Blanton]

Many of us, the Americans were like, we have the quote unquote, strongest passport because Israel really cares what the US thinks. What we hadn't calculated was that by making ourselves an enemy of the Israeli state, we had also made ourselves an enemy of the American state.

[Nadia Hamdan]

They were released on October 7, the two year anniversary of the war in Gaza. Carsey and Dane tell me they were bussed to Israel's border with Jordan and pretty Much left to fend for themselves.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We saw that other consulates, other ambassadors were there with trays of food, bottles of water, packs of cigarettes.

[Carsey Blanton]

The US person from the embassy shows up and is like, I just want you to know we're not going to be babysitting you. You guys are going to have to find your own way home.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And when she had found out that we were on hunger strike, she dug through her purse and had like half a bag of a snack sized thing of pretzels, which she offered to us.

[Carsey Blanton]

So that was the welcome of the U.S. embassy.

[Nadia Hamdan]

I reached out to the State Department and the US Embassy in Jerusalem to ask about this incident. They did not respond. The flotilla organizers get in touch with the Americans and tell them to meet at a hotel in the heart of Jordan's capital, Amman. Dane says they walked in looking and smelling terrible. But the welcome they got from the owner of the hotel was a stark contrast to everything they just experienced.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She came around and hugged each of us and then she let us know that there was a buffet for us upstairs. And I remember walking up and seeing Carsy staring. And she looks at me and she says, there's a chocolate fountain. And then she just starts weeping.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Dane says sitting at that hotel in Jordan, they couldn't help but feel like they'd failed. They hadn't broken the blockade, they hadn't delivered the aid. He says it wasn't until he was in a taxi on the way to the airport that he started to feel differently. The driver had just finished his night shift, but wanted to take them free of charge.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This gentleman let us know that many Palestinians, his family included, were able to fish for two days while the Israeli navy was occupied with us. And everybody in the taxi just broke down crying like Carson and I looked at each other. We just said we did something.

[Abir Barakat]

Well, yeah, actually we could see the fish in the market.

[Nadia Hamdan]

This is Abir Barakat, a Palestinian woman in Gaza.

[Abir Barakat]

So when Israel was occupied with the global Sumud flotilla, the fishermen were able to go into the sea and at least catch few fish. And I was so happy for them.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Abir and her family lost their home two years ago, just a few days into the war. She's now living with her in laws

[Abir Barakat]

in Gaza City and it's the last remaining home for the extended family. So if anything happened around here to this area, I think I will have no place to go home.

[Nadia Hamdan]

A ceasefire brokered by the Trump administration began on October 10, but Israeli airstrikes have continued, killing hundreds of Palestinian civilians. Israel blames Hamas for violating the ceasefire. Hamas blames Israel. And still, President Trump is moving forward with a peace deal, although Abir says that's not what she would call it. If you were to give this peace deal another name, what would you call it?

[Abir Barakat]

The deal of shame. This is what I call it because it's like they are putting a gun to your head and a knife to your neck and telling you you must accept it.

[Nadia Hamdan]

Abir is A lecturer and PhD candidate who used to spend her days teaching English at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza. Now Abir spends her days doing what she calls Stone Age chores. She builds a fire to heat water for coffee, makes bread for breakfast, waits for a truck to come by once a day with fresh drinking water. Lunch is usually canned beans.

[Abir Barakat]

When I look at my life, it's very miserable. My God, I look at my hands, they used to be very soft. Now they look very black. I have many cuts on my fingers, bruises. I have burns from the wood fire. And my God, just. Just thinking about this makes me have this kind of self pity because of this kind of, you know, abrupt transition in life.

[Nadia Hamdan]

When the flotillas started making the news, Israel and other critics argued that this was largely a publicity stunt and that it was taking away attention from people like Abir rather than bringing it.

[Abir Barakat]

Well, actually, we don't feel like that at all.

[Nadia Hamdan]

In my opinion.

[Abir Barakat]

To see international activists sailing toward Gaza, risking their freedom to challenge an illegal blockade reminds us that our struggle is not isolated and tells Palestinians, you are not alone and the world still sees you.

[Nadia Hamdan]

And it really did feel like the world was watching. The Israelis. Interception and detainment of the flotilla prompted worldwide protests that eclipsed the ones we saw after the drone attacks from Israel's border with Gaza to London, Athens, Barcelona, Zurich, Geneva, Geneva and Europe's largest pro Palestinian rallies in Milan, Naples and Rome. Italy's largest labor union even held a general strike that effectively shut down the entire country. And it wasn't just Europe. There were protests in Malaysia and Bangladesh, Turkey and Tunisia, the us, Brazil and Colombia, where President Gustavo Petro expelled all of Israel's diplomats and ended the free trade agreement between the two countries.

[Abir Barakat]

Justice for Palestine has become a global issue of conscience. It's no longer confined to the region. People everywhere are connecting the dots between Gaza and the broader struggles for equality and liberation. So that, to me, is a source of real hope.

[Nadia Hamdan]

While others may not share Abir's optimism, it's become clear that more and more people around the world are changing the way they feel about this conflict. In the US the shift has been described as seismic, with polls by the New York Times and Gallup finding that for the first time, voters now sympathize more with Palestinians than with Israelis. As for the global Sumud flotilla organizers say until the blockade of Gaza is lifted, the flotillas will continue. This week's show was edited by Taki Telenides. Special thanks to Cynthia Rodriguez and Kate Howard. Artist Cheriscus is our fact checker. Legal review by James Chadwick. Our production manager is Zulema Cobb. Score and sound design by Jim Briggs and Fernando Arruda. They had help from Claire Mullen. Our executive producer is Brett Myers. Our theme music is by Cameraado Lightning. Support for Reveal is provided by the Riva and David Logan foundation, the John D. And Catherine T. MacArthur foundation, the Jonathan Logan Family foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, the park foundation, the Schmidt Family foundation and the Hellman Foundation. Support for Reveal is also provided by you our listeners. We are a co production of the center for Investigative Reporting and prx. I'm Nadia Hamdan and remember there is always more to the story. From prx.