Sumud Flotilla Activists Launch Hunger Strike in Israeli Prisons Against ‘Starvation Policy’

Dozens of international activists from the Global Sumud Flotilla have begun a collective hunger strike inside Israeli prisons, protesting Israel’s use of “starvation policy” as a weapon of war in Gaza.

The 42 confirmed hunger strikers, who come from more than a dozen countries, were arrested by the Israeli military between October 1 and 3 during the interception of their aid boats.

The flotilla was attempting to break the naval blockade of Gaza to deliver a symbolic shipment of humanitarian aid.

In a statement, organizers for the Sumud Flotilla said the activists have “refused to be fed by the same entity carrying out a genocidal starvation campaign against millions of Palestinians in Gaza.”

“In Gaza, starvation is not a tragedy – it’s a policy,” the statement read. “Since October 2023, Israel has pursued a campaign of total starvation: cutting off food, water, electricity, and fuel, while targeting the fields, farmers, and aid convoys that keep people alive.”

The statement added that “non-violence is not passivity,” but rather “the courage to risk one’s body to confront injustice,” linking the activists’ actions to the spirit of Palestinian hunger strikers like Khader Adnan.

Adnan was a Palestinian activist and prisoner in the occupied lands who died after an 87-day hunger strike in protest of his detention without trial. By the time of his death, he had been arrested 12 times by Israel.

The Global Sumud Flotilla, made up of over 50 vessels, set sail from Barcelona late last month to deliver aid to Gaza and challenge what human rights groups have condemned as one of the harshest and most inhumane blockades in the world.

Since Wednesday, the Israeli navy has illegally intercepted flotilla vessels in international waters as they neared Gaza, detaining about 500 activists from more than 40 countries.

Several high-profile figures, including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau, and Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan, were among those abducted.

Since March 2, when Israel violated its ceasefire agreement with the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, the regime has sealed all border crossings into the territory, blocking the entry of humanitarian aid and further deepening Gaza’s already dire humanitarian crisis.

The brutal blockade has pushed the famine-linked death toll to 453 people, including 150 children.

Israel has so far killed at least 66,225 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since it launched the genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023.