Gaza aid flotilla reports explosions, drones and radios ‘jammed’ with ABBA music
Written by admin on September 25, 2025
Organizers of a flotilla carrying aid for Gaza have reported explosions near their boats and seeing multiple drones around the fleet, which is made up of more than 500 people, including prominent environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), which was sailing near Greece early Wednesday, according its online tracker, also had its communications “jammed,” its organizers said in a statement.
“We are witnessing these psychological operations first-hand, right now, but we will not be intimidated,” they added. “Sumud” in Arabic means “steadfastness” or “steadfast perseverance.”
“The international waters felt like a battlefield,” human rights activist Yasemin Acar, who is onboard the Alma vessel as part of the flotilla, told NBC News in a video call Wednesday, describing the overnight ordeal. “There were bombs after bombs … and no one came to help.”
In an online video GSF shared overnight, a bright light can be seen piercing the darkness, before a loud blast rings out. Organizers said that the video was recorded from one of its boats, Spectre, and that it captured one of the explosions heard by crew members.
In a separate video posted by Acar, music from the pop group ABBA, whose members, like Thunberg, hail from Sweden, can be heard ringing out.
“They started jamming our comms by playing ABBA songs, you know, to interfere with our radio,” Acar said, adding that the crew “couldn’t even reach the Coast Guard” because of the apparent interference.
“It was horrific that this can happen in international waters, close to Greece. I mean, in Europe,” she said.
Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the incident Wednesday, saying he had directed a navy ship to offer assistance, Reuters reported. Acar confirmed Italy had offered assistance and was expected to “safeguard” the flotilla during at least part of its journey.
Israel’s military and a spokesperson for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry condemned the flotilla Monday. Without providing evidence, Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the ministry, said on X it was “organized by Hamas” and “intended to serve Hamas.”
He added that Israel would not allow the flotilla to “enter an active combat zone and will not allow the breach of a lawful naval blockade.”
Marmorstein also called for the flotilla to dock at Israel’s Ashkelon Marina and unload aid there for it to be transferred to Gaza.
But GSF has argued that Israel is violating international law in Gaza, rendering its blockade illegal.
The flotilla, which is carrying more than 500 people from more than 40 countries, set sail from Barcelona late last month in a bid to “break the illegal siege of Gaza.”
Gaza has been under an Israeli naval blockade since 2007, when Hamas took power.
GSF said this month that two of its boats had been attacked by drones while it was stationed in Tunisia.
The Tunisian Interior Ministry said at the time that reports that a drone hit a boat at its Sidi Bou Said port had “no basis in truth” and that a fire broke out on the vessel itself, according to Reuters.
Israeli forces continue their devastating assault on Gaza City, where scores of people have been killed in recent days and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Deaths from starvation have also continued to rise, according to Palestinian health officials.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after the Hamas-led attacks in 2023, when 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage, marking a major escalation in a decadeslong conflict.
Since then, Palestinian health officials say, more than 65,000 people have been killed in Gaza, including thousands of children, while much of the enclave has been reduced to rubble.
This week, Tom Barrack, the U.S. special envoy to Syria and ambassador to Turkey, accused Israel of “attacking everybody” in an interview with The National, the state-owned English-language daily newspaper based in the United Arab Emirates.
He named Syria and Lebanon among those attacked, as well as Tunisia, in an apparent reference to the alleged attack on the aid flotilla.
“Personally, I hate what’s happened in Gaza on all sides,” Barrack told the newspaper. “For the Palestinians, for the Israelis, for the Jordanians, for the Lebanese, for the Syrians, for the Turks. You know … it’s a mess.”
“Israel is a valued ally,” he said. “We subsidize them” by $4 billion to $5 billion a year. “It has a special place in America’s heart, and we’re living with the confusion of what’s happening in this transition.”
“So it’s complicated,” he added.
Chantal Da Silva reports on world news for NBC News Digital and is based in London.
