More than 14, 000 children were sent abroad as a result of a notorious foreign adoption scheme established after the Korean War of 1950-1953, which the country’s president has since apologized for.
Seven months after a Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that the program violated the human rights of adoptees, President Lee Jae-myung announced in a Facebook post on Thursday that he would offer “heartfelt apology and words of comfort” to South Koreans adopted abroad and their adoptive and birth families.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
The government was held accountable for facilitating adoptions through shady practices, including falsifying records and changing identities, according to the commission, which examined complaints from 367 adoptees in Europe, the United States, and Australia.
When he considered the “anxiety, pain, and confusion” South Korean adoptees would have experienced when they were sent abroad as children, Lee called on officials to develop systems to safeguard the rights of adoptees and support their efforts to locate their birth parents.
More than 140, 000 children were sent abroad between 1955 and 1999 as a result of the mass international adoptions that were started after the Korean War to remove mixed-race children from societies that stressed ethnic homogeneity.
More than 100 children, typically unmarried women who face ostracism in a conservative society, are still being adopted abroad for adoption each year in the 2020s, a trend that has persisted in recent years.
The Hague Adoption Convention, a global agreement intended to safeguard international adoptions, was ratified by South Korea in July after years of delay. On Wednesday, the treaty became effective in South Korea.
Kim Dae-jung, the former president, expressed regret during a 1998 apology to adoptees from other countries, saying: “From the bottom of my heart, I am truly sorry. We have a serious offense against you, in my opinion.
Republicans and Democrats have blocked rival stopgap spending bills for a second straight day, which has hindered progress made by US lawmakers in putting an end to the partial shutdown of the government.
The US Senate on Wednesday rejected the duelling proposals by margins, which were ineffective and mirrored similar efforts the day before.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
In a 55-45 vote, the Republican proposal to extend government funding ended on November 21.
The bill was supported on Tuesday by two Democrats, one of whom is an independent, Angus King of Maine, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada.
The Democrats’ bill, which sets up new healthcare spending at $1.5 trillion, received 53 votes for and 47 against, with all Republicans once more opposed.
Donald Trump’s victory came as US President Donald Trump kept his promise to start cutting costs to Democrats as a result of the shutdown, which has halted some government services and forced essential employees to report to work without pay on the back of the promise of being paid later.
The administration will freeze $ 26 billion in infrastructure funding earmarked for Democratic-run states, according to Russell T. Vought, the budget director of the White House.
Vought alleged that conservatives have harshly criticized diversity, equity, and inclusion policies, which have been subject to the conservatives’ harsh criticism of $ 18 billion for transportation projects in New York City.
Vought reported that 16 states, including California, Washington, and Hawaii, had also received $ 8 billion in “Green New Scam funding.”
Trump’s administration officials also gave the president a hint that he would follow through on his earlier threat to use the shutdown to start a mass layoff.
US Vice President JD Vance stated at a White House press briefing that “we will have to lay off people.”
“We’re going to have to save money in some places to prevent other places from providing essential services.”
The economy is already being harmed by the shutdown, according to Stephanie Leiser, a lecturer in public policy at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.
We need to keep in mind that the uncertainty is already putting us at risk in terms of delayed investment/spending, higher borrowing costs, depletion of reserves, and administrative burdens, Leiser said.
Instead of making plans for the future, everyone spends all of their time making up scenarios and worrying about the upcoming weeks and months.
Republicans and Democrats appeared to be reluctant to compromise as the shutdown passed its second day.
Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate Minority, claimed that Trump “threatening pain on the country as blackmail” and that he had lied to Americans about how he handled them.
He claimed that the public’s demands were reflected in Democrats’ efforts to repeal and replace the Medicaid cuts contained in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Nothing more, please. Nothing less. They want us to convene to discuss a real solution that removes this enormous burden from their shoulders, Schumer  said.
Democrats were to blame, according to Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
In a post on X, Thune wrote, “They have lost all reason when it comes to their hatred for President Trump.”
Global leaders are critcizing Israel’s decision to intercept the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) while it is traveling to Gaza, which has sparked swift criticism from international organizations as protesters demonstrate in cities all over the world, including Istanbul, Athens, Buenos Aires, Rome, Berlin, and Madrid.
The 500-person flotilla included the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Malaysia, Turkiye, and Colombia, and at least 44 other nations.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
World leaders have responded in a variety of ways, from direct condemnation to requests for Israel to grant consular services to detained citizens.
What responses have been received so far?
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march in Rome, Italy, on October 1, 2025 to protest the interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla vessels.
Turkiye
The intervention by Israel was described as a “act of terrorism” that violated international law and threatened innocent civilians’ lives, according to Turkiye’s ministry of foreign affairs.
The ministry claimed that Israel’s actions demonstrated that “the fascist and militarist policies pursued by the genocidal Netanyahu government, which has condemned Gaza to famine, are not limited to Palestinians.”
Malaysia
Anwar Ibrahim, the prime minister, demanded that Malaysian citizens be released immediately. He stated in a statement on X that it would “take all necessary and legally grounded steps” to hold Israel accountable.
He claimed that Israel had violated the “basic rights of the Palestinian people” and that it had also violated the international community’s conscience.
Colombia
In response to Israel’s actions, President Gustavo Petro announced on X that his administration would expel Israeli diplomats and void Colombia’s free trade agreement.
He urged Colombia to “follow all the necessary steps, including through Israeli courts,” in order to secure the return of its citizens.
In front of the US embassy in Turkiye on October 1, 2025, people protest the interceptation of GSF vessels [Efekan Akyuz/Reuters].
Italy
Antonio Tajani, the foreign minister of Italy, reported to local media that Israel had assured him that the flotilla would not engage in “violent actions.”
Following the Unione Sindacale di Base’s strike in September and other protests at Italian ports, Italian unions separately called for a general strike on Friday to show their solidarity with the GSF and Gaza.
Greece
In a joint statement released earlier this week, Greece and Italy both issued a call for Israel to “assure the safety and security of the participants and permit any consular protection measures.”
Ireland
Israel was preventing essential aid from reaching Gaza, according to Irish President Michael D. Higgins. He stated in a statement that “all of us and all of the nations from which the people come are concerned about the safety and protection of those involved in this humanitarian exercise.”
Belgium
In a statement on X, Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot urged the Israeli government to uphold international law. He claimed that “ensuring the rights of our compatriots are respected, that their safety is guaranteed, and that they can return home as quickly as possible was his top priority.”
On October 1, 2025, a pro-Palestinian demonstrator marches in Mexico City, Mexico.
France
The Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs demanded that Israel provide access to consular services for the French citizens participating in the flotilla and “allow them to return to France without undue delay.”
United States
20 Democratic legislators urged the White House to take immediate action to protect the flotilla earlier this week.
Nations Unified
The UN’s special rapporteur on Palestine, Francesca Albanese, said the Israelis’ actions against the flotilla demonstrated the West’s indolence toward Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, despite the UN itself having yet to respond to the activists’ arrests.
My thoughts are with the people of Gaza, trapped in Israel’s killing fields, Albanese wrote on X.
Yasin Malik has been regarded as a top-ranked pro-freedom leader from Indian-administered Kashmir for well over three decades.
A leader who became synonymous with the armed struggle that broke out in Kashmir seeking independence from India in the late 1980s, then turned to the advocacy of peaceful, nonviolent resistance, Malik is currently serving a life sentence in a New Delhi jail. Malik has been viewed negatively by many in India’s security services and the strategic establishment, and Pakistan, which New Delhi has long accused of supporting armed conflict in Kashmir, has also shown distrust.
But a sensational affidavit that the 59-year-old filed in the Delhi High Court in late August has gripped India over the past weeks because of a series of sensational claims that it makes – and that former Indian officials and analysts say might have at least some element of truth in them.
Malik’s petition challenges the dominant narrative, which includes Pakistan’s claim to the disputed region and his own decades-long separatist activism.
At the heart of Malik’s claims is a central, stunning question: Was he actually an Indian intelligence asset all along?
What do Yasin Malik’s claims actually mean?
In his 84-page affidavit, Malik claims that since the 1990s – by which time the armed revolt by young Kashmiris against New Delhi’s rule was at its peak – he had been engaging with top authorities in the Indian government in its bid to resolve the conflict.
Malik claims to have met several Indian prime ministers, federal ministers, top Indian intelligence officials, far-right Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaders, and even two well-known Hindu religious seers who visited his residence in Srinagar “umpteen times” as part of a backchannel diplomacy approved by the Indian government to advance the peace efforts in Kashmir. The RSS is the ideological mentor of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu majoritarian Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He claims that the Intelligence Bureau (IB), India’s domestic spy agency, managed a meeting with Hafiz Saeed in 2006 as part of efforts to force him to give up arms. Saeed is the founder of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba organization and is wanted by India for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Who is Yasin Malik?
Malik was born in Maisuma, a riverside community in Srinagar, and was only 21 when the Indian government allegedly rigged a local election in 1987 to obstruct pro-separatist candidates’ victories.
As a young polling agent deployed at one of the election booths in the city, Malik said he had firsthand experience of the irregularities and subterfuge in that election that have since been widely acknowledged – , a prelude to the violent rebellion movement that erupted in 1989.
Malik fled Pakistan, where he is accused of receiving arms training from the Pakistani security establishment, after being upset over the alleged vote-theft. He came back and took over the command of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Force (JKLF), a rebel group founded in 1977 that was behind a series of deadly attacks on Indian security forces.
Malik reportedly reportedly scuffled with Islamabad over his opposition to Kashmir becoming an independent state rather than a Muslim-majority state. As he carved out a different path to resist the Indian rule, it was the JKLF’s rival, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, that increasingly gained Pakistani patronage.
[Dinesh Joshi/AP Photo] Yasin Malik being escorted by police to a court in New Delhi on May 25, 2022.
Meanwhile, Malik was arrested and imprisoned by the Indian authorities in 1990.
He claims that after being arrested, he was taken to Tihar Jail in New Delhi and later kept there, where senior Indian security officials “almost daily” met him, insisting that he must have dinner with then-Indian Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar. He says the visiting officials urged him to renounce armed rebellion.
He claims that he continued to speak with four more Indian prime ministers across ideological lines. They include PV Narasimha Rao of the Congress party, Inder Kumar Gujral, who led a coalition government under the so-called United Front briefly in the 1990s, Atal Behari Vajpayee from Modi’s BJP, and Manmohan Singh from the Congress. Vajpayee and Singh actively participated in peace negotiations with Pakistan during their terms in office. Modi replaced Singh as prime minister in 2014.
Malik claims that this release came as a result of a tacit agreement with New Delhi that saw him declare a ceasefire, abandon the armed rebellion, and pledge to fight for Kashmir’s independence through nonviolent means promoted by India’s anticolonial icon, Mahatma Gandhi.
After that, Malik led several peaceful protests on Kashmir’s streets against allegedly illegal arrests, torture and killings of civilians by Indian forces, denial of political and human rights to the region’s residents, and to demand an end to Indian rule. In these troubled years, he was frequently detained, strengthening his standing as a vengeful advocate for the Kashmir cause.
But Malik’s public life took a drastic turn in 2019, when 40 Indian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack by suspected rebels in Kashmir’s Pulwama area. Malik’s JKLF organization was prohibited, and he was detained and imprisoned.
Cases pending against him for decades – for which he claims the Indian government had already granted him amnesty – were reopened. Some of the serious allegations against him included those involving the 1989 murder of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of former Indian Home Minister and Kashmiri politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, and receiving funds from Pakistan to cause unrest in India.
In May 2022, a special court served him two life sentences, along with five punishments of 10 years of rigorous imprisonment each and a fine of 100, 000 rupees ($1, 127). Since then, he has been incarcerated in Tihar Jail.
Why did Malik file the affidavit?
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) of India requested that Malik’s sentence be increased from life in prison to the death penalty in response to his affidavit to the Delhi High Court, which was submitted on August 25.
In the affidavit, Malik says while he maintained a public posture of a hard-willed, unbending figure adored by millions of Kashmiris for having challenged India’s authority, he had simultaneously entered into a collaborative partnership with successive Indian governments, which, he claims, assured him that serious charges against him or JKLF will not be pursued as long as he adhered to a nonviolent path.
He claims that the NIA is now fabricating allegations against him as a “terrorist” and that the Indian government has followed this advice for about 25 years.
Therefore, his affidavit, he says, is intended to present his side of the story, to show the mitigating circumstances under which he acted, and to expose betrayals by Indian authorities after years of political talks and clandestine meetings.
Malik claims that a senior Indian intelligence official approved of his 2006 meeting with Saeed and that he had informed India’s top security advisers afterward.
A United Kingdom-based journalist, who has written on the Kashmir issue for decades, told Al Jazeera that Malik’s affidavit “highlights the reality of smoke-and-mirrors” in conflicts like the one over the Himalayan region.
He claimed that Malik’s case was a “litmus test.”
“To stand with Malik is to stand against India, the prosecution says”, said the journalist and author on condition of anonymity because he feared he could be barred by the Indian government from visiting the country. He argued, however, that the state, its various emissaries, and himself had the exact opposite position in the complex conflict.
AS Dulat, who held senior positions at the IB and headed the Research and Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency, however, told Al Jazeera that New Delhi’s decision to reach out to Malik in the 1990s must be seen in the light of the peace processes that successive Indian governments had attempted to pursue in Kashmir.
“Everyone who could have contributed to the peace process was tapped,” he said. The idea was to try to bring peace. There was agreement, but it varied from one government to the next, and by varying degrees, Dulat said.
“Everybody agreed that what Kashmir needed was peace. There is no disagreement over that, in my opinion. Times keep changing, people keep changing, the situation today would not be the same as yesterday”.
However, Dulat did not respond to questions about whether Malik had made specific claims or whether they were accurate.
What other revelations has Malik made?
In response to the death of Burhan Wani, a young rebel leader, in Indian-administered Kashmir in 2016, Malik’s affidavit claims that he was instrumental in stifling the Indian government.
He mentions meeting the deceased Kashmiri pro-freedom leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani during the uprising, “something which the]Indian] government agreed to and had given their principal go-ahead”, according to the affidavit.
Malik claims during the meeting that he requested that Geelani give the strike a “breath of two or three days” in a “protest calendar” that the agitated Kashmiris were following. Malik says he was able to prevail despite opposition from the alliance of separatist groups that Geelani headed.
He claims that the pause was implemented to stop the street protests from escalating, and that the movement had stopped within weeks. He claims his proposal to pause the protests was also supported by Kashmir’s business and trading communities, who were losing their income due to the strike.
Malik’s affidavit further details his involvement in secret back-channel discussions with the Indian business mogul Dhirubhai Ambani, the deceased father of Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, the richest man in Asia, in 2000.
At that time, the senior Ambani was investing in an oil refinery in the western Indian state of Gujarat, which he worried was located within “shooting distance of Pakistan”. The tycoon began discussions with Malik with a close aide out of fear that the continuing military tensions between India and Pakistan over Kashmir would threaten to undermine his refinery project.
But Malik does not reveal much about this encounter, only saying he and Ambani exchanged pleasantries and bonded over a shared background of men with humble beginnings. He does not specify how he managed to calm the industrialist’s concerns about the project, which is currently one of the largest oil refineries in the world.
Malik also boasts of having received an Indian passport during Prime Minister Vajpayee’s tenure in 2001, when hardline Hindu nationalist Lal Krishna Advani was the home minister. He claims that he kept Indian authorities informed about who he was meeting there and that he was able to travel to the United States, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and many other nations after that.
How credible are Malik’s allegations?
Former chief minister of Indian-administered Kashmir Mehbooba Mufti claimed in a post on X on September 19 that she had written to Amit Shah, the NIA’s request to “take a compassionate view” of Malik’s case.
Mufti is the sister of Rubaiya Sayeed, the former Indian home minister’s daughter, whom Malik is accused of having helped abduct in 1989.
In a column for The Wire news website a week later, Mufti argued that the Indian government had “used individuals to serve short-term goals and then discarded or punished them once they outlived their usefulness,” contrasting Malik’s case with Afzal Guru’s secretive hanging inside Tihar Jail in 2013. Guru, a Kashmiri, was convicted of an attack on the Indian parliament building in 2001.
In a letter to his lawyer from prison in 2004, Guru allegedly referred to an Indian police officer as Davinder Singh, who had allegedly asked him to assist the victims of the parliament attack. Guru’s allegations were never investigated. However, Singh was detained in Kashmir in 2020 while driving with two men he thought to be members of the Pakistani-based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen armed group, which raises serious questions about how Indian police and intelligence functions in Indian-administered Kashmir.
“If whistleblowers are executed, if peace-builders are imprisoned, if trust is betrayed over and over again, then what future remains for reconciliation in Kashmir”? In her column, Mufti wrote.
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Chairman Yasin Malik, centre, walks outside his home after he was detained by Indian police in Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir, on November 10, 2016]Mukhtar Khan/ AP Photo]
Security expert Ajai Sahni believes that Malik’s disclosures may have had the opposite effect of what he might have intended: they ultimately revealed him as a “doubtful” actor with both roles.
“There are cases of murders and terrorism against him. He must have had a government ally. That’s why he was allowed to be free. Otherwise, the Institute for Conflict Management’s executive director in New Delhi, Sahni, would have taken legal action against him throughout all these years.
“Just because you have been used by the state doesn’t mean you are a man of integrity”, said Sahni, referring to Malik’s labelling of his ongoing trial as a “breach of faith” because he was allegedly promised amnesty by the Indian government.
“In fact, it is the other way around.” If you were a man of integrity, you wouldn’t have been used by the state”.
However, Vikram Jit Singh, a journalist and author who covered Kashmir at the height of the uprising in the 1990s, claims Malik’s claims are “plausible” and that India’s political leadership and the security forces “were very much in the loop of what was happening.”
“It is a known fact that governments harnessed these elements in building bridges”, he told Al Jazeera.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the top anti-Semitism watchdog and Jewish advocacy organization, has been accused of spying on conservatives by the top law enforcement agency in the United States.
Following the release of the assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk in the ADL’s “Glossary of Extremism and Hate,” prominent conservative influencers, including Elon Musk, made the announcement on Wednesday.
Recommended Stories
list of 4 itemsend of list
Patel cited the ADL’s connections to former FBI Director James Comey, a vocal critic of US President Donald Trump, who was charged with obstruction and lying to the US Congress last week.
Patel claimed that Comey had sent “love letters” to ADL and ADL-affiliated agents, who he claimed had accused of conducting “disgraceful ops spying on Americans.”
In a social media post, Patel stated, “This FBI won’t work with political organizations that masquerade as watchdogs.”
Patel did not go further or provide supporting proof for his assertions.
Comey claimed that the FBI had collaborated with the advocacy group to create a “Hate Crimes Training Manual” and that the organization had mandated personnel’s training for the organization’s Law Enforcement and Society in a 2014 speech to the ADL’s National Leadership Summit.
Comey characterized the ADL’s training as “eye-opening and insightful,” and its investigation of hate crimes as “essential.”
He said, “If this sounds a bit like an ADL love letter, it is,” and that is exactly so.
In response to the ADL’s decision to remove more than 1, 000 allegedly extremist entries from its website, Patel did not mention Kirk in his statement, which came just one day after the late activist’s death was referenced in his statement.
The ADL claimed it made the decision because many of the terms were “intentionally misrepresented and misused” and a number of entries were “intentionally misrepresented and misused.”
The ADL claimed that Kirk promoted “Christian nationalism” and “numerous conspiracy theories about election fraud and Covid-19 and has demonized the transgender community” in a since-deleted article on Kirk and his youth organization Turning Point USA (TPUSA).
White nationalists, according to the entry, were also present at TPUSA events, claiming that it attracted racists, that its representatives had “bigoted remarks” about minority groups and the LGBTQ community, and that the group’s representatives had “acquired white supremacist ideology.”
While still alive, Kirk himself vehemently criticised the ADL, calling it a “hate group that wears a religious mask to justify stoking hatred of the left’s enemies.”
The ADL expressed “deep respect” for the FBI and all law enforcement officials who work to protect Americans regardless of their ancestry, religion, ethnicity, faith, or political affiliation in a statement following Patel’s remarks on Wednesday.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which had been attempting to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, has been intercepted by Israel and has attracted international attention as one of the biggest naval aid missions to the Palestinian enclave.
More than 40 civilian boats and about 500 activists were on board the Global Sumud Flotilla on Wednesday night when Israeli forces boarded it.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Israel had previously stated that it would take all necessary steps to stop the flotilla traveling to Gaza, claiming that the volunteers were attempting to “breach a lawful naval blockade,” which was against international law.
Since Hamas gained control of the Strip in 2007, Israel has imposed varying levels of blockade on Gaza. Since then, Gaza’s residents have largely been trapped inside the country, with Israel largely controlling access to food, goods, and aid.
What should I know, below.
On Wednesday, what happened to the flotilla?
According to the flotilla organizers’ statements, Israel intercepted the boats carrying humanitarian aid.
As the flotilla approached the censored enclave, naval forces reportedly boarded ships about 70 nautical miles (130 kilometers) offshore Gaza, cutting communications and blocking signals.
CAPTURED AND INTERCEPTED SHIPS
ALMA, ADARA, and SIRIUS.
THE REST IS FINALLY SAILING. 40 Natural Miles Off the Savannah Coast.
Earlier in the day, activists described ominous encounters with unlit boats and drones escorting the convoy, causing tensions to rise.
Multiple Global Sumud Flotilla vessels, notably Alma, Surius, and Adara, were illegally intercepted and boarded in international waters on Wednesday, according to a flotilla statement.
It appears that the Israeli naval vessels intentionally damaged ship communications in an effort to block distress signals and stop the livestream of their illegal boat boarding before illegally boarding the ships.
The flotilla continued its efforts to establish a maritime corridor into Gaza, where the population has been in acute need of humanitarian aid after nearly two years of Israel’s war. Despite carrying only a small amount of humanitarian aid, the mission was still moving forward.
What was Israel’s response?
A woman speaking by phone while wearing a military uniform and introducing herself as an Israeli navy representative was featured in a video released by Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs.
She informs the flotilla that it is approaching a restricted, blockaded area in the call, and specifies that any aid for Gaza must be delivered “through the established channels.”
Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, added that Yom Kippur, the Jewish holiday, will be observed on Thursday and that activists on board the Gaza aid flotilla will be deported.
“Already, six boats have been intercepted, including the vessel Alma,” according to Israeli media. According to reports, more interceptions are anticipated, according to Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim, who is based in Doha.
“Many of the activists on board the ships have been detained by Israeli soldiers,” the statement read. Due to the Yom Kippur holiday, those detained would typically go through a legal process, she continued. “Israel is currently almost completely shut down,” she continued.
That implies that if activists are detained, their status will not be known in courts and prisons, leaving them in limbo.
We won’t permit any publicity that would endanger our country by traveling through a war zone. After Yom Kippur, those who attempted to enter Israeli territory illegally will be deported. This image is a result of Israel’s repeated efforts to provide aid to Gaza in a peaceful manner. twitter.com/JVZldN0kYb
Israel has officially imposed a naval blockade since 2009 to stop weapons trafficking in. The activists firmly refute the allegations that some flotilla organizers have connections to Hamas, which they allege is untrue.
Has this ever occurred before?
Since 2010, ships and convoys have made an effort to break the blockade of Gaza.
Among the most notable examples  are:
The most notorious incident from 2010 was the Mavi Marmara incident, which involved the Israeli-led Gaza Freedom Flotilla. Ten activists were killed in the incident, which caused international outcry and straining Israeli-Turkiye relations.
Israel apologised for the 2013 raid’s “operational mistakes.” The two nations are still negotiating a compensation deal. In Turkiye, Israeli soldiers and government officials are being tried for war crimes in absentia.
2011–2018 – Smaller flotillas stopped: Several subsequent flotillas, including vessels in 2011, 2015, and 2018. Typically, Israel escorted cargo, detained activists, and sent the ships to Ashdod port. Some reported being tasered and beaten, and some activists were arrested in 2018.
Activist groups continued organizing flotillas until 2024, but Israel either stopped them from entering Gaza or intercepted them.
Several flotilla missions sail to challenge Israel’s naval blockade in 2025.
The ship Madleen, which departed from Catania, Sicily, with food, medical supplies, baby formula, and other essential items, was one of those missions in June. Greta Thunberg and other activists were also present.
The Madleen was intercepted and boarded by Israeli naval forces in international waters on June 9; there were 12 people on board. After being processed in Israel, the activists were deported.
What other details exist regarding the current flotilla?
The Global Sumud Flotilla made its way across the Mediterranean in late August 2025, making its way from ports in Spain and Italy to Greece and Tunisia.
More than 50 vessels carrying hundreds of international volunteers, activists, and lawmakers from at least 44 nations joined the mission’s beginnings. According to the organizers, there are 24 Americans and several veterans of the armed forces.
Food, medical supplies, and other necessities for Gaza’s population were symbolic but significant amounts of humanitarian cargo on board.
Activists reported several hostile sea encounters, including those involving suspected drone attacks close to Malta and Crete, which forced some ships to leave. 44 ships were still in the convoy as the flotilla approached the eastern Mediterranean.
