Desk Report:
Israel has seized all the ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international aid flotilla sailing towards the famine-stricken Gaza Strip in Palestine. At the same time, the Benjamin Netanyahu government has placed all the rights activists on the flotilla, which set off from Barcelona, Spain, in detention centers in southern Israel.
It was believed that Drik’s managing director and photographer Shahidul Alam was also in the Israeli detention center with the rights activists. However, in a video message posted on his verified Facebook account on Friday (October 3) morning, he confirmed that it was not the Global Sumud Flotilla; rather, he was continuing his journey to Gaza with another flotilla called the Media Flotilla.
On Friday morning, Israeli forces took the last ship of the Global Sumud Flotilla, Marinette, into their custody before it reached the Gaza coast. Shortly before that, Shahidul Alam gave the video message. In it, he said, “Today is October 3, 2025. You can see, the sun is shining. Today we have come to the Palestinian time zone. Those who went to the Sumud Flotilla went differently. We are going separately. This is how our plan was that we could move forward even if something happened to them. We have learned that Israel has seized all their (Sumud Flotilla) ships.’
The ship on which photographer Shahidul Alam is in the media flotilla is called ‘Conscience’. This media flotilla is an attempt to attract international attention through information and media to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza.
This flotilla is working to break the information or media blackout (information is hidden) in Gaza; where journalists, human rights activists and doctors are present. The media flotilla is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, an initiative to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
A week after the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail for Gaza from Barcelona on August 31, the Media Flotilla set sail for Palestine with 11 ships. Shahidul Alam set sail for Palestine with this media flotilla from Italy last Sunday.
In a 56-second video message, Shahidul Alam said that his media flotilla is moving forward to break the media blackout in Gaza.
