While “the issue of aid is very important,” a flotilla spokesperson said, abandoning the trip “means admitting that you let a government operate illegally without being able to do anything.”
(Sept. 28, 2025 / JNS) Italy’s president on Friday urged citizens aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza to abandon the trip after organizers rejected Rome’s proposal to allow the Catholic Church to distribute the aid instead.
“The value of human life, which seems to have lost all meaning in Gaza, where it is gravely trampled upon …, requires us to avoid endangering the safety of any person,” Italian President Sergio Mattarella stated on Friday.
“I feel compelled to make a strong appeal to the men and women of the flotilla to accept the offer made by the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem … to safely deliver what solidarity has destined for the children, women and men of Gaza,” he added.