For Gazans, ‘there is no optimism’ the war will actually end

NUSFAT MODIN: 

The Sumud Flotilla is a very beautiful thing: to break the siege and to show the world who the Zionist occupiers are. They detained them, and people have seen what Ben Gvir did to them. These people are not terrorists. It’s not terrorism; it’s about breaking the siege. These are heroes of humanity and heroes of freedom. 

ADAM KHIDR HAMMOUDEH: 

These are the ones who embodied dignity and who responded to the call for help and the call of humanity. They brought this message of love, peace, and security to the people of Gaza. 

ABU MUSTAFA AL ABID: 

Free people—you are free people—you began something good, and you should continue on your path, steadfast. The whole world is with you, all free people are with you, and all nations are with you. 

MAZEN ABBAS ABU JABAL: 

This is not the first flotilla; there were many attempts before by peace-loving activists and supporters of the Palestinian cause around the world. Every time, they are faced with brute military force, with the support, approval and blessing of the U.S., through the Israeli navy, which abducted and threatened them. 

ADAM KHIDR HAMMOUDEH: 

When the Israeli occupation army arrested those who were on board the Sumud Flotilla, there was great sadness on the streets in Gaza. We send our message to those who were on board the Sumud Flotilla, which is a flotilla of dignity and a flotilla of hope. They wanted to bring happiness to the hearts of the people of Gaza, but the Israeli occupation army arrested them to stop the supplies of aid and relief that they wanted to bring to Gaza. 

NUSFAT MODIN: 

Let the world see what is really happening here, and know that the Zionist occupation is the biggest problem. [The flotilla activists] didn’t come for politics or anything else; they came to break the siege. They came as humanitarians; everyone knows they came for human rights. They were bringing food and medicine—and [the Israeli forces] confiscated their ships? It’s a big problem. 

MAZEN ABBAS ABU JABAL: 

International law is very clear with regards to international waters. By hijacking these ships and taking them to the port of Ashdod, Israel is committing a crime against humanity—an organized crime committed by a state that claims to be democratic.

ABU MUSTAFA AL ABID: 

This is the height of terrorism. Detention—you are detaining people outside your borders, not within your borders. How can you do this? It’s terrorism. It’s piracy. 

MAZEN ABBAS ABU JABAL: 

I say to them: I wish I could welcome you into my home, but unfortunately, my home has been destroyed by the occupation twice, once by bombing and once by bulldozer. 

NUSFAT MODIN: 

The siege is beyond comprehension. It’s very difficult. Very, very difficult. Famine and displacement, lack of water and electricity… Even electricity—I don’t think about it. All I think about is food and water. And if you think the siege has finished—it hasn’t. It’s hard. 

ABU MUSTAFA AL ABID: 

Occupation, killing, destruction: trees, rocks, people, children, women, buildings—everything. No accountability, because no one is holding them back. 

NUSFAT MODIN: 

There is no optimism. You can’t negotiate with these people. A deal, no deal—we have no hope. No one—ask anyone. 

ABU MUSTAFA AL ABID: 

There’s no optimism. Impossible. Are you optimistic? Optimistic? Are you optimistic the war will end? No. See! There isn’t any. There’s no optimism. No optimism. Why? Because, you know, Trump is a child—a crazy person—him and Netanyahu. They play with the whole world. He might end it today, then the next day they’ll say “we found the Qassam rockets” and then start the war again. There is no faith in them. 

MAZEN ABBAS ABU JABAL: 

I’m not optimistic that Israel, which is imposing an unjust siege on the Gaza Strip for more than 23 years—since 2000—Israel has imposed a blockade and refused to allow anything into the Gaza Strip without its consent and the consent of its civil administration. So the idea that there would be a port for Palestine and that there should be international recognition of the Palestinian cause and of a Palestinian state is what Netanyahu and those around him don’t want. Netanyahu sees himself as nothing less than a god, and everyone must obey him. Therefore, obedience to his wishes means that we must leave Gaza, and this is in his delusional dreams—him and Trump, who is his partner. There is no citizen in the world who has endured a month of war and is sad when it ends, let alone a person who has been displaced since October 10 [2023], approximately 23 times, and every time we go out under heavy fire and death. Where are you, world leaders? Leaders of the democratic world, from this country that you call democratic, but in practice does not implement democracy except

in name? If they, inside their own land and among their own people who share the same Jewish religion, treat them according to their origins—where they came from—then how about us? 

MOHAMED AL GHOULA: 

Trump’s plan in the Gaza Strip that is being forced on us—this is not a plan. This is complete occupation. Today, the project that they are working on, for us, is the displacement project. The project that Trump says Hamas must agree to—what is this called? This is called collaboration with the occupation. It’s a joint venture with the occupation. 

MAZEN ABBAS ABU JABAL: 

It’s basically Netanyahu’s plan, not Trump’s plan. The American administration, or successive American administrations, that say yes to Israel unconditionally, ignoring its crimes and covering them up with American money and supporting it with weapons. I am not being killed by Israeli weapons; I am being killed by American weapons paid for with American taxes. The Americans are killing me, so the American people are unwittingly participating in this crime. They say a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces. Where will they withdraw to? Secondly, how long will the withdrawal take? What is required of the Middle East, Kushner, Witkoff, and the entire American administration is to give me, as a Palestinian citizen, a plan and timetable for the withdrawal so that I know when I will return to my home and when I will be able to live a normal life. And most importantly, when the siege will be lifted and the crossings opened so that I can go out and come in as I wish and bring in goods as I wish, so that I can eat in peace. 

MOHAMED AL GHOULA: 

If the war ends and lasts a year, two years, three, four, five, ten, twenty… If this project is implemented, it will be implemented next on the rest of the Muslims and Arabs who are asleep. We say to them, you are asleep; wake up, because our people are here to wake you. 

ADAM KHIDR HAMMOUDEH: 

Our message from inside the Gaza Strip to those who were on the Steadfastness [Sumud] Flotilla and who want to sail again and come to the Gaza Strip is: We love you. We love this humanity and this freedom that you came for, to relieve the suffering people inside the Gaza Strip.