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SYROS: Two ships set sail Sunday evening from the Greek island of Syros to join the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international mission aiming to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, AFP journalists saw.
Chanting “Free Palestine,” around 500 people gathered at the port of Ermopoulis to see off the two Greece-flagged boats, the Oxygen and Ilektra, carrying goods for famine-hit Gaza along with five and eight people on board respectively.
“This is the way to show Israel that it shouldn’t have the right to impose starvation,” Kostas Fourikos, a 39-year-old crew member told AFP. “And of course to send the message of solidarity to the Palestinians, who suffer so much.”
Another crew member, Angeliki Savvantoglou, said the flotilla aimed to “put pressure on our own governments to also stop collaborating with Israel and stop this genocide.
“Eventually, we want this genocide to stop,” the 35-year-old added.
The two vessels are set to join the rest of the fleet, which hopes to help relieve the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas grinds on.
In August, as a result of the conflict, the United Nations officially declared famine in and around Gaza City, home to around a million people.
Israel denies the existence of famine in the coastal territory.
Attack fears
Backed by high-profile participants including environmental activist Greta Thunberg, the pro-Palestinian Global Sumud flotilla describes itself as an independent group not linked to any government or political party.
Sumud is Arabic word for “resilience.”
Its journey to the Gaza Strip has been dogged by at least two suspected drone attacks while docked off the coast of Tunisia, sparking concern for the safety of the Greek ships.
Crew member Savvantoglou played down such concerns fears. “I think we are all worried, but we’re also all very prepared for as much as we can be prepared for,” she told AFP.
“What we are facing all these days with the bureaucracy or even with the drone attacks in Tunisia is nothing in comparison to just one minute of being alive in Gaza.”
Along with Rhodes and Crete, Syros saw demonstrations rallying hundreds of people in July to prevent the Israeli cruise ship Crown Iris from docking, in response to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
The Gaza war erupted in October 2023, triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN considers those figures to be reliable.

BUCHAREST: Romania on Sunday strongly condemned the entry of a Russian drone into its airspace during an attack on neighboring Ukraine, with the foreign ministry summoning Moscow’s ambassador over the incident.
The incursion comes days after fellow NATO member Poland said it had shot down Russian drones which had violated its airspace as Moscow launched a barrage against Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Kremlin of “testing” Romania and wanting to “bring the war” to Poland and the Baltic with the intrusions.
Earlier on Sunday, NATO member Romania had said that Moscow’s actions pose a “new challenge” to Black Sea security.
Foreign Minister Oana Toiu also announced that Russia’s ambassador to Bucharest, Vladimir Lipaev, would be summoned over Saturday’s drone incident to the ministry.
After the meeting on Sunday evening, the ministry said in a statement that Romania had “conveyed its strong protest against this unacceptable and irresponsible act, which constitutes a violation of (its) sovereignty.”
“Such recurring incidents contribute to the escalation and amplification of threats to regional security,” said the statement, adding that Moscow was “urgently requested... to prevent any future violations.”
Poland had already denounced the intrusion of Russian drones into its airspace, calling on Moscow to avoid further “provocations.” Polish fighter jets scrambled Saturday in response to fresh Russian drone strikes just over the border in Ukraine.
Romania has had several drone fragments crash on its territory since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, especially as Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian ports.
In a statement, Romania’s defense ministry said it “strongly condemns the irresponsible actions of the Russian Federation and emphasizes that they represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the Black Sea area.”
It added that “such incidents demonstrate the Russian Federation’s lack of respect for international law.”
In his evening address on Sunday, Zelensky repeated his argument that Russia was seeking to expand its invasion of his country.
“Everyone can see that the Russians are exploring how to bring the war to Poland and the Baltic states. The Russian army is also testing Romania,” the Ukrainian leader said.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the Russian action a “reckless” threat to security.
“The violation of Romanian airspace by Russian drones is yet another unacceptable breach of an EU member state’s sovereignty,” Kallas wrote on X.
“This continued reckless escalation threatens regional security. We stand in solidarity with Romania. I am in close contact with the Romanian government.”
Russia has not yet commented since Romania reported late Saturday that its airspace had been breached by a drone during a Russian attack in neighboring Ukraine, but has denied targeting Poland.
Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets, which “detected a drone in national airspace” and tracked it until it dropped off the radar, the defense ministry said.
In its statement Sunday, the ministry said that a “Geran drone used by” Russia had entered Romanian airspace.
It added that the drone “orbited for about 50 minutes, from northeast of (the village of) Chilia Veche to southwest of Izmail, and left national airspace near the town of Pardina, heading toward Ukraine.”
Romania’s fighter jets were “supported by German allies... with two Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft,” which monitored the situation.
The drone did not fly over populated areas and did not pose an imminent threat to the safety of the population, said the statement.
Toiu said on X that she will “raise Russia’s actions at (the) UN General Assembly, urging a strict international adherence to sanctions.”
In February, the Romanian parliament adopted a law allowing the country to shoot down drones breaching its airspace.