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What to Know about the International Flotilla Seeking to Break Israel's Blockade of Gaza

(FILES) An activist waves the Palestinian flag as a boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and activists, part of a civilian flotilla aiming at breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaves the port of Barcelona on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP)
(FILES) An activist waves the Palestinian flag as a boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and activists, part of a civilian flotilla aiming at breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaves the port of Barcelona on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP)
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What to Know about the International Flotilla Seeking to Break Israel's Blockade of Gaza

(FILES) An activist waves the Palestinian flag as a boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and activists, part of a civilian flotilla aiming at breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaves the port of Barcelona on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP)
(FILES) An activist waves the Palestinian flag as a boat carrying Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and activists, part of a civilian flotilla aiming at breaking the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaves the port of Barcelona on August 31, 2025. (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP)

Spain and Italy say they are sending navy ships to where a flotilla of boats carrying activists seeking to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza is sailing, after the activists said they were attacked by drones near Greece.

The Global Sumud Flotilla said on Friday it was preparing to set sail on the final leg to Gaza after being targeted by drones and communications jamming, with several explosions occurring on or near some of the boats. Some of the vessels were damaged, but no injuries were reported.

Here's what to know about the flotilla.

The flotilla's goal

Organizers say the flotilla includes 52 mostly small vessels carrying activists from dozens of countries. They are carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid, mainly food and medicine, for Palestinians in the besieged enclave of Gaza.

The 23-month war has led to a humanitarian catastrophe in the territory that has seen much of it reduced to rubble. The world’s leading authority on the food crisis has declared famine in Gaza's largest city.

Activists hope their actions will focus attention on the plight of Palestinians. They say the flotilla is the largest attempt to date to break Israel’s maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has now lasted 18 years, long predating the current war in Gaza.

Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics consider it collective punishment.

The boats' journey

The core vessels set sail from Spain on Sept. 1, heading east across the Mediterranean Sea, and have been joined by boats from other countries along the way.

The flotilla includes larger vessels that are providing support and provisions for smaller boats.

Participants include high-profile activists such as Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, as well as members of Italy's parliament and the European parliament. Organizers say delegates from 46 countries had committed to participating, with activists including military veterans, doctors, clergy and lawyers.

The bulk of the flotilla was sailing south of the Greek island of Crete on Thursday, heading eastwards. Organizers said they expected to reach the Gaza area within a week.

Drone attacks

Organizers have reported at least three separate instances of participating boats being targeted by drones: twice in Tunisia on Sept. 8 and 9, and once while sailing south of Greece in the early hours of Wednesday.

In the latest attack, the flotilla said it was targeted during the night by “unidentified drones and communications jamming." Activists said “at least 13 explosions” were heard on and around several flotilla boats, while drones or aircraft dropped “unidentified objects” on at least 10 boats.

No casualties were reported but there was damage to the vessels and “widespread obstruction in communications,” it added.

Thunberg said on Thursday that she expects the attacks to intensify in the coming days, adding in an online post: “But we continue undeterred. And the closer we are to Gaza, the bigger grows the risk of escalation towards us.”

Israel vows to block the boats

Israel said Thursday it had no problem with Italy and Spain’s plan to send rescue ships to accompany the flotilla but renewed strong criticism of the aid initiative — warning that the boats would not be allowed to reach Gaza.

“The real purpose of this flotilla is provocation and serving Hamas, certainly not humanitarian effort,” Israeli Foreign Ministry official Eden Bar Tal said. "Israel will not allow any vessel to enter the active combat zone.”

Bar Tal warned the activists against attempting to reach Gaza. “Any further refusal will put the responsibility on the flotilla organizers,” he said, without elaborating.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to questions regarding Wednesday’s drone attack.

Spain and Italy ready navy ships

Italy and Spain said they were sending military ships to provide assistance and possible rescues if needed.

“The Spanish Government demands that international law be complied with and that the right of our citizens to navigate the Mediterranean safely be respected,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said.

Spanish officials said a navy offshore patrol vessel, the Furor, was being prepared to sail from the Mediterranean port of Cartagena.

Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto condemned the drone attack on civilian boats as “totally unacceptable” during a parliamentary address Thursday. A day after Premier Giorgia Meloni delivered one of her toughest criticisms of Israel's actions in Gaza at the UN General Assembly, Italy was sending an Italian navy ship ready to assist the flotilla if needed.

Crosetto urged the flotilla to offload aid instead in Cyprus, suggesting Italy and the Catholic Church could deliver it safely to Palestinians. He emphasized that Italy couldn’t guarantee the flotilla’s security once it entered another country’s waters, noting Israel might view it as a “hostile act.”

Cypriot deputy government spokesman Yiannis Antoniou said Israel had stated its willingness to accept the aid from Cyprus. “Cyprus is ready to assist if any request for help is made,” he said.

Flotilla organizers rejected the Cyprus proposal and vowed to continue on to Gaza.

EU warns against use of force

In Athens, activists staged a protest outside the foreign ministry, urging the government to condemn the drone attacks, provide naval protection to the flotilla, and join other European nations in formally recognizing Palestinian statehood.

“I think (recognition) is the very least they could do,” protest organizer Mariketi Stasinou told The Associated Press. “But beyond that, more immediate measures are needed to have real impact and show meaningful solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

UN Human Rights Office spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan called for an investigation, while the European Union also warned against the use of any force. “The freedom of navigation under international law must be upheld,” said Eva Hrncirova, a European Commission spokesperson.

Past attempts to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza

It is not the first time activists trying to break Israel's Gaza blockade have come under attack.

Another vessel said it was attacked by drones in May in international waters off Malta. An overland convoy traveling across North Africa also attempted to reach the border but was blocked by security forces aligned with Egypt in eastern Libya.

In 2010, Israeli commandos raided the Mavi Marmara, a boat participating in an aid flotilla attempting to breach the maritime blockade of Gaza. Nine Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American on board were killed.

The current war

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took 251 others hostage. Israel says its offensive is aimed at pressuring Hamas to surrender and return the remaining 48 hostages, about 20 of whom Israel believes are still alive. Most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.

The Israeli offensive has killed more than 65,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were civilians or combatants, but says around half were women and children.

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Features

Russia, China Unlikely to Back Iran Against US Military Threats

A man stands by the wreckage of a burnt bus bearing a banner (unseen) that reads "This was one of Tehran’s new buses that was paid for with the money of the people’s taxes,” in Tehran's Sadeghieh Square on January 15, 2026. (AFP)
A man stands by the wreckage of a burnt bus bearing a banner (unseen) that reads "This was one of Tehran’s new buses that was paid for with the money of the people’s taxes,” in Tehran's Sadeghieh Square on January 15, 2026. (AFP)
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Russia, China Unlikely to Back Iran Against US Military Threats

A man stands by the wreckage of a burnt bus bearing a banner (unseen) that reads "This was one of Tehran’s new buses that was paid for with the money of the people’s taxes,” in Tehran's Sadeghieh Square on January 15, 2026. (AFP)
A man stands by the wreckage of a burnt bus bearing a banner (unseen) that reads "This was one of Tehran’s new buses that was paid for with the money of the people’s taxes,” in Tehran's Sadeghieh Square on January 15, 2026. (AFP)

While Russia and China are ready to back protest-rocked Iran under threat by US President Donald Trump, that support would diminish in the face of US military action, experts told AFP.

Iran is a significant ally to the two nuclear powers, providing drones to Russia and oil to China. But analysts told AFP the two superpowers would only offer diplomatic and economic aid to Tehran, to avoid a showdown with Washington.

"China and Russia don't want to go head-to-head with the US over Iran," said Ellie Geranmayeh, a senior policy expert for the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank.

Tehran, despite its best efforts over decades, has failed to establish a formal alliance with Moscow and Beijing, she noted.

If the United States carried out strikes on Iran, "both the Chinese and the Russians will prioritize their bilateral relationship with Washington", Geranmayeh said.

China has to maintain a "delicate" rapprochement with the Trump administration, she argued, while Russia wants to keep the United States involved in talks on ending the war in Ukraine.

"They both have much higher priorities than Iran."

- Ukraine before Iran -

Despite their close ties, "Russia-Iranian treaties don't include military support" -- only political, diplomatic and economic aid, Russian analyst Sergei Markov told AFP.

Alexander Gabuev, director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, said Moscow would do whatever it could "to keep the regime afloat".

But "Russia's options are very limited," he added.

Faced with its own economic crisis, "Russia cannot become a giant market for Iranian products" nor can it provide "a lavish loan", Gabuev said.

Nikita Smagin, a specialist in Russia-Iran relations, said that in the event of US strikes, Russia could do "almost nothing".

"They don't want to risk military confrontation with other great powers like the US -- but at the same time, they're ready to send weaponry to Iran," he said.

"Using Iran as a bargaining asset is a normal thing for Russia," Smagin said of the longer-term strategy, at a time when Moscow is also negotiating with Washington on Ukraine.

Markov agreed. "The Ukrainian crisis is much more important for Russia than the Iranian crisis," he argued.

- Chinese restraint -

China is also ready to help Tehran "economically, technologically, militarily and politically" as it confronts non-military US actions such as trade pressure and cyberattacks, Hua Po, a Beijing-based independent political observer, told AFP.

If the United States launched strikes, China "would strengthen its economic ties with Iran and help it militarize in order to contribute to bogging the United States down in a war in the Middle East," he added.

Until now, China has been cautious and expressed itself "with restraint", weighing the stakes of oil and regional stability, said Iran-China relations researcher Theo Nencini of Sciences Po Grenoble.

"China is benefiting from a weakened Iran, which allows it to secure low-cost oil... and to acquire a sizeable geopolitical partner," he said.

However, he added: "I find it hard to see them engaging in a showdown with the Americans over Iran."

Beijing would likely issue condemnations, but not retaliate, he said.

Hua said the Iran crisis was unlikely to have an impact on China-US relations overall.

"The Iranian question isn't at the heart of relations between the two countries," he argued.

"Neither will sever ties with the other over Iran."

Features

Beirut’s Commodore Hotel, a Haven for Journalists During Lebanon’s Civil War, Shuts Down

People stand outside the closed Commodore hotel, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP)
People stand outside the closed Commodore hotel, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP)
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Beirut’s Commodore Hotel, a Haven for Journalists During Lebanon’s Civil War, Shuts Down

People stand outside the closed Commodore hotel, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP)
People stand outside the closed Commodore hotel, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP)

During Lebanon’s civil war, the Commodore Hotel in western Beirut's Hamra district became iconic among the foreign press corps.

For many, it served as an unofficial newsroom where they could file dispatches even when communications systems were down elsewhere. Armed guards at the door provided some sense of protection as sniper fights and shelling were turning the cosmopolitan city to rubble.

The hotel even had its own much-loved mascot: a cheeky parrot.

The Commodore endured for decades after the 15-year civil war ended in 1990 — until this week, when it closed for good.

The main gate of the nine-story hotel with more than 200 rooms was shuttered Monday. Officials at the Commodore refused to speak to the media about the decision to close.

Although the country’s economy is beginning to recover from a protracted financial crisis that began in 2019, tensions in the region and the aftermath of the Israel-Hezbollah war that was halted by a tenuous ceasefire in November 2024 are keeping many tourists away. Lengthy daily electricity cuts force businesses to rely on expensive private generators.

The Commodore is not the first of the crisis-battered country’s once-bustling hotels to shut down in recent years.

But for journalists who lived, worked and filed their dispatches there, its demise hits particularly hard.

“The Commodore was a hub of information — various guerrilla leaders, diplomats, spies and of course scores of journalists circled the cafes and lounges,” said Tim Llewellyn, a former BBC Middle East correspondent who covered the civil war. “On one occasion (late Palestinian leader) Yasser Arafat himself dropped in to sip coffee with” with the hotel manager's father, he recalled.

A line to the outside world

At the height of the civil war, when telecommunications were dysfunctional and much of Beirut was cut off from the outside world, it was at the Commodore where journalists found land lines and Telex machines that always worked to send reports to their media organizations around the globe.

Across the front office desk in the wide lobby of the Commodore, there were two teleprinters that carried reports of The Associated Press and Reuters news agencies.

“The Commodore had a certain seedy charm. The rooms were basic, the mattresses lumpy and the meal fare wasn’t spectacular,” said Robert H. Reid, the AP’s former Middle East regional editor, who was among the AP journalists who covered the war. The hotel was across the street from the international agency’s Middle East head office at the time.

“The friendly staff and the camaraderie among the journalist-guests made the Commodore seem more like a social club where you could unwind after a day in one of the world’s most dangerous cities,” Reid said.

Llewellyn remembers that the hotel manager at the time, Yusuf Nazzal, told him in the late 1970s “that it was I who had given him the idea” to open such a hotel in a war zone.

Llewellyn said that during a long chat with Nazzal on a near-empty Middle East Airlines Jumbo flight from London to Beirut in the fall of 1975, he told him that there should be a hotel that would make sure journalists had good communications, “a street-wise and well-connected staff running the desks, the phones, the teletypes.”

During Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon and a nearly three-month siege of West Beirut by Israeli troops, journalists used the roof of the hotel to film fighter jets striking the city.

The parrot

One of the best-known characters at the Commodore was Coco the parrot, who was always in a cage near the bar. Patrons were often startled by what they thought was the whiz of an incoming shell, only to discover that it was Coco who made the sound.

AP’s chief Middle East correspondent Terry Anderson was a regular at the hotel before he was kidnapped in Beirut in 1985 and held for seven years, becoming one of the longest-held American hostages in history.

Videos of Anderson released by his kidnappers later showed him wearing a white T-shirt with the words “Hotel Commodore Lebanon.”

With the kidnapping of Anderson and other Western journalists, many foreign media workers left the predominantly-Muslim western part of Beirut, and after that the hotel lost its status as a safe haven for foreign journalists.

Ahmad Shbaro, who worked at different departments of the hotel until 1988, said the main reason behind the Commodore’s success was the presence of armed guards that made journalists feel secure in the middle of Beirut’s chaos as well as functioning telecommunications.

He added that the hotel also offered financial facilities for journalists who ran out of money. They would borrow money from Nazzal and their companies could pay him back by depositing money in his bank account in London.

Shbaro remembers a terrifying day in the late 1970s when the area of the hotel was heavily shelled and two rooms at the Commodore were hit.

“The hotel was full and all of us, staffers and journalists, spent the night at Le Casbah,” a famous nightclub in the basement of the building, he said.

In quieter times, journalists used to spend the night partying by the pool.

“It was a lifeline for the international media in West Beirut, where journalists filed, ate, slept, and hid from air raids, shelling, and other violence,” said former AP correspondent Scheherezade Faramarzi.

“It gained both fame and notoriety,” she said, speaking from the Mediterranean island of Cyprus.

The hotel was built in 1943 and kept functioning until 1987 when it was heavily damaged in fighting between Shiite and Druze militiamen at the time. The old Commodore building was later demolished and a new structure was build with an annex and officially opened again for the public in 1996.

But Coco the parrot was no longer at the bar. The bird went missing during the 1987 fighting. Shbaro said it is believed he was taken by one of the gunmen who stormed the hotel.

Features

Key Details of Greenland’s Rich but Largely Untapped Mineral Resources

Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)
Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)
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Key Details of Greenland’s Rich but Largely Untapped Mineral Resources

Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)
Houses covered by snow are seen on the coast of a sea inlet of Nuuk, Greenland, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP)

The Danish and Greenlandic foreign ministers will meet US Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday after President Donald Trump recently
stepped up threats to take over Greenland.

The autonomous territory of Denmark could be useful for the ​United States because of its strategic location and rich mineral resources. A 2023 survey showed that 25 of 34 minerals deemed "critical raw materials" by the European Commission were found in Greenland.

The extraction of oil and natural gas is banned in Greenland for environmental reasons, while development of its mining sector has been snarled in red tape and opposition from indigenous people.

Below are details of Greenland's main mineral deposits, based on data from its Mineral Resources Authority:

RARE EARTHS
Three of Greenland's biggest deposits are located in the southern province of Gardar.

Companies ‌seeking to ‌develop rare-earth mines are Critical Metals Corp, which bought the ‌Tanbreez ⁠deposit, ​Energy Transition Minerals, ‌whose Kuannersuit project is stalled amid legal disputes, and Neo Performance Materials.

Rare-earth elements are key to permanent magnets used in electric vehicles (EV) and wind turbines.

GRAPHITE
Occurrences of graphite and graphite schist are reported from many localities on the island.
GreenRoc has applied for an exploitation license to develop the Amitsoq graphite project.
Natural graphite is mostly used in EV batteries and steelmaking.

COPPER
According to the Mineral Resources Authority, most copper deposits have drawn only limited exploration campaigns.

Especially interesting are the underexplored areas ⁠in the northeast and center-east of Greenland, it said.

London-listed 80 Mile is seeking to develop the Disko-Nuussuaq deposit, which has ‌copper, nickel, platinum and cobalt.

NICKEL
Traces of nickel accumulations are numerous, ‍according to the Mineral Resources Authority.

Major miner ‍Anglo American was granted an exploration license in western Greenland in 2019 and has ‍been looking for nickel deposits, among others.

ZINC
Zinc is mostly found in the north in a geologic formation that stretches more than 2,500 km (1,550 miles).

Companies have sought to develop the Citronen Fjord zinc and lead project, which had been billed as one of the world's largest undeveloped zinc resources.

GOLD
The most prospective ​areas for gold potential are situated around the Sermiligaarsuk fjord in the country's south.

Amaroq Minerals launched a gold mine last year in Mt Nalunaq in ⁠the Kujalleq Municipality.

DIAMONDS
While most small diamonds and the largest stones are found in the island's west, their presence in other regions may also be significant.

IRON ORE
Deposits are located at Isua in southern West Greenland, at Itilliarsuk in central West Greenland, and in North West Greenland along the Lauge Koch Kyst.

TITANIUM-VANADIUM
Known deposits of titanium and vanadium are in the southwest, the east and south.

Titanium is used for commercial, medical and industrial purposes, while vanadium is mainly used to produce specialty steel alloys. The most important industrial vanadium compound, vanadium pentoxide, is used as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid.

TUNGSTEN
Used for several industrial applications, tungsten is mostly found in the central-east and northeast of the country, with assessed deposits in the south and west.

URANIUM
In 2021, ‌the then-ruling left-wing Inuit Ataqatigiit party banned uranium mining, effectively halting development of the Kuannersuit rare-earths project, which has uranium as a byproduct.