Belfast man ‘risking life’ on Gaza aid flotilla

A man of Belfast aboard a flotilla of aid who tries to reach Gaza said that volunteers “risk their lives and their freedom” to participate in the mission.

Fra Hughes is one of the 350 activists trying to break the naval blockade of Israel from Gaza to provide food and medical aid to the hungry Palestinians.

He spoke of the BBC Good Morning Ulster program two days after Flatilla was attacked by drones that dropped unidentified objects on certain boats.

Israel did not comment on the drone’s attack, but earlier this week, his Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that his forces “would not allow ships to enter an active combat zone and do not allow violation of a legal naval blockage”.

Mr. Hughes, Ardoyne in the north of Belfast, is a 20 people from the island of Ireland aboard the Global Sumud Flatilla (GSF).

He is inhabited by civilians, including the Swedish activist for climate change Greta Thunberg, and a certain number of international politicians.

“There are 55 ships in the flotilla,” said Hughes.

“Each ship has a medical aid and food aid component to distribute in Gaza, if we are allowed to get there.”

Flatilla had Spain sail in Spain at the start of this month with a mission declared to “break the illegal seat of Israel on Gaza”.

Activists claim that the blockade constitutes “a violation of the Geneva conventions” and insists that their assistance mission is “legal under international law”.

“ We are trying to create a maritime rescue line ”

On Tuesday, a number of their boats said they saw drones above their heads, followed by several “flashbangs” and unidentified objects that have been abandoned from the air.

In a statement, GSF said that at least 13 explosions had been heard on and around boats, which raised “urgent concerns for the safety of participants”.

This happened outside the Tunisian port of Sidi Bou, and followed other attacks of alleged drones earlier this month.

Mr. Hughes is aboard the Alma boat, which was described as one of the “mother vessel” involved in the supply of the flotilla.

Earlier this week, “more than 15 low altitude drones” hovered over the Alma over a period of 24 hours, according to the GSF.

Italy and Spain have since deployed naval ships to protect the flotilla, because the two countries have several citizens on board.

On Friday, when he spoke to BBC News nor, Mr. Hughes said that the Alma was outside the Côtes de la Crete and had received support from Greece.

“We have a Greek military naval escort. We expect to be in Gaza – or to intercept – in the next four or five days,” he said.

“We are trying to create a maritime rescue line in Gaza and we insist to be protected.”

However, several Flotilla prior to Gaza failed to reach their destination and Mr. Hughes expressed himself worrying to be “diverted to the Mediterranean”.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the flotilla had been “organized by Hamas”.

“If the real wish of the participants in the flotilla is to provide humanitarian aid rather than serving Hamas, Israel calls on ships to dock of the Ashkelon Marina and to unload the aid there, from where it will be transferred quickly in a coordinated manner to the Gaza Strip,” he said in a statement on Monday.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sentenced the drone’s attack and deployed a naval frigate to protect the assistance convoy.

However, she also criticized the GSF mission as “dangerous and irresponsible” and said it was not necessary for activists to enter a war zone.

His country proposed that the aid could be left in Cyprus and delivered to Gaza by an active Catholic organization in Israel and Palestine.

But the flotilla and Mr. Hughes rejected this plan.

“Look how many trucks have been refused the entry to Gaza since March 2025,” he said.

“If they simply allowed trucks on the border, we would not need a maritime life buoy.

“People would not risk their lives and their freedom in order to provide solidarity and support to the inhabitants of Palestine,” added Hughes.

There were more than 40 Irish citizens in the flotilla when he left, but after certain boats suffered damage caused by the storm and other problems, the number is now 20.

The Irish participants included the senator of Sinn Féin Chris Andrews; The actor of Cork Tadhg Hickey; The author of Dublin Naoise Dolan; The poet of Galway Sarah Clancy; The unionist of Cork Donna Schwarz and Maureen Almai, nurse of the County of Clare.

Genocide complaint

The Israeli army launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the attack by Hamas against southern Israel on October 7, 2023, during which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

Since then, more than 65,000 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health in the territory.

At the beginning of this month, the world’s main association of genocide specialists said that Israel’s actions in Gaza had respected the legal definition of the genocide.

Israel has denied having committed a genocide and rejected the resolution adopted by the International Association of Genocide scholars (IAGS) as on the basis of the “Lies of Hamas”.