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Italy, Spain Deploy Naval Vessels to Protect Flotilla on Course for Gaza
A Palestinian flag is seen as people gather at the port of Ermoupolis before the departure of two sailing boats, Electra and Oxygen, part of the Global Sumud Flotilla aiming to reach Gaza and break Israel’s naval blockade, on Syros island, Greece, Sept. 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Giorgos Solaris
Italy and Spain have deployed naval ships to assist an international aid flotilla that claims it has come under drone attack while trying to deliver aid to Gaza, potentially ratcheting up tensions with Israel, which strongly opposes the initiative.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is using about 50 civilian boats to try to break Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza, which for nearly two decades has been ruled by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group that openly calls for the destruction of Israel. Many lawyers, parliamentarians, and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, are on board.
The Italian defense ministry said a frigate that was dispatched on Wednesday, hours after the GSF was reportedly targeted on its way to Gaza, would be replaced by another vessel, adding that the aim was to protect people.
“It is not an act of war, it is not a provocation: it is an act of humanity, which is a duty of a state towards its citizens,” Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told the upper house of parliament on the decision to send a ship.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday he will join Italy in sending a military warship to protect the flotilla. He told a press conference in New York where he has been attending the UN General Assembly that the citizens of 45 countries were on board to deliver food to the population of Gaza and express solidarity with their suffering.
“The government of Spain insists that international law be respected and that the right of our citizens should be respected to sail through the Mediterranean in safe conditions,” he said. “Tomorrow we will dispatch a naval vessel from Cartagena with all necessary resources in case it was necessary to assist the flotilla and carry out a rescue operation.”
FLOTILLA REJECTS CYPRUS AID COMPROMISE
The Italian foreign ministry said Belgium, France, and other European nations had asked them to help provide assistance to their citizens on the flotilla if needed.
Italy had proposed a compromise whereby aid supplies could be dropped off in Cyprus and handed over to the Catholic Church’s Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, which would then distribute them in Gaza. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said Israel backed the idea.
However, the Italian delegation rejected that suggestion on behalf of the flotilla on Thursday.
“Our mission stays true to its original goal of breaking [Israel’s] illegal siege and delivering humanitarian aid to the besieged population of Gaza,” the Italian group said in a statement.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said it would not comment on reports that it was in discussions about the flotilla.
Italy sent a first frigate on Wednesday, hours after the flotilla said it was targeted by drones that dropped stun grenades and itching powder on the vessels as they sailed in international waters 30 nautical miles (56 km) off the Greek island of Gavdos.
No one was hurt, but some damage was caused to the vessels.
Previous activist attempts to break the naval blockade on Gaza were stopped by force by the Israeli military.
ISRAEL ASKS IF THIS IS AID OR PROVOCATION?
In 2010, 10 Turkish activists were killed by Israeli commandos who raided the Mavi Marmara ship leading an aid flotilla towards Gaza.
Italian Prime Minister Meloni, a traditional ally of Israel, stressed on Wednesday that no use of military force was expected by her country’s navy, and criticized the flotilla initiative as “gratuitous, dangerous, and irresponsible.”
The flotilla has blamed Israel for the drone attack.
Israel’s foreign ministry did not respond directly to the accusation, but invited the flotilla to drop humanitarian aid at any port in a country near Israel, leaving it to Israeli authorities to take it to Gaza, or else face consequences.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said, in a post on X, that the flotilla‘s rejection of the Italian proposal to drop the aid off in Cyprus showed “that their real purpose is provocation and serving Hamas.”
“Israel will not allow vessels to enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade,” he wrote.
SAILING AT SLOW SPEED
The flotilla said early on Thursday that its vessels were sailing at slow speed in Greek territorial waters, had been subjected to “moderate drone activity” during the night, and were heading towards international waters “later today.”
Some of the people on flotilla vessels have decided to disembark and are being replaced by other activists, Annalisa Corrado, an EU lawmaker for Italy‘s opposition Democratic Party who is on one of the boats, told Reuters.
“It is clear that tensions are rising, and with them, risks are also rising. Those who disembark have decided that these levels of risk are no longer compatible with what they are willing to bear.”
Israel launched its nearly two-year-old war on Gaza in response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on the country by Hamas terrorists which killed some 1,200 people and saw 251 taken hostage.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.