Condemns the illegal interception of the Global Sumud flotilla
From the CLACSO Working Group on Geopolitics: Palestine and Our AmericaWe, comprised of researchers from the Global South, demand the release of our colleagues Thiago Ávila and Saif Abushekek, as well as all Palestinian prisoners in Zionist jails.
On April 29, 2026, Israeli naval forces intercepted the vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla in international waters of the Mediterranean, more than 1.100 km from the Gaza Strip: a civilian, peaceful and non-violent convoy of human rights defenders, medical personnel, journalists and activists from 47 countries, transporting food, medicine and baby formula for the besieged Gazan population.
Israeli forces attacked with water cannons and foul-smelling liquids, blocked communications, boarded boats, and forcibly detained approximately 175 unarmed people. This action flagrantly violates the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which only permits interdictions in cases of piracy or with the consent of the flag state, as well as International Humanitarian Law, which obligates Israel, as the occupying power, to guarantee access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
We strongly condemn this aggression against civilians on the high seas, demand the immediate release of all detainees, urge the governments of the world to hold Israel accountable and activate diplomatic and legal mechanisms to do so, and call for the lifting of the illegal blockade on the Gaza Strip and unrestricted humanitarian access.
It is important to emphasize that efforts must be redoubled to promote the boycott of those Israeli institutions that are complicit in and involved with apartheid and genocide.
Impunity is not neutrality.
Complicit silence prolongs the crime.
Freedom for the detainees of the Sumud Flotilla!
May 7th 2026
CLACSO Working Group on Geopolitics: Palestine and Our America
This text expresses the position of the aforementioned Working Groups and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
