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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Four Poles, one of them a member of parliament, who were part of a flotilla seeking to bring aid to Gaza have been detained by Israeli forces who last night boarded some of the boats.
Poland’s foreign ministry has said that it is monitoring the situation and will seek to help those involved. However, both a deputy foreign minister and the presidential spokesman have criticised the flotilla, calling it a “propaganda” exercise rather than a genuine humanitarian mission.
Footage of the flotilla's Oxygono ship was illegally intercepted and boarded in international waters. Israeli officers immediately took down the live stream. pic.twitter.com/s5b2HWwEvJ
— Global Sumud Flotilla Commentary (@Globalsumudf) October 2, 2025
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), made up of dozens of vessels, has for the past few weeks been sailing across the Mediterranean towards Gaza, hoping to break Israel’s blockade of the territory and deliver aid.
However, on Wednesday, Israel moved to intercept some of the ships while they were still in international waters. Footage shared by GSF showed the Israeli navy boarding. Among those detained was environmental activist Greta Thunberg.
Late on Wednesday, a prerecorded message of Franciszek Sterczewski, a Polish MP who was aboard the flotilla, was released.
“If you see this video, it means I have been taken captive by Israel’s occupation forces in international waters during a peaceful humanitarian mission,” he said.
Poseł Franciszek Sterczewski @f_sterczewski został porwany przez Siły Okupacyjne Izraela na międzynarodowych wodach podczas legalnej, pokojowej misji humanitarnej Globalnej Flotylli Sumud.
Wstawcie się za Franciszkiem i jego towarzyszami u polskich władz!… pic.twitter.com/TsNxNe3Hcu
— Global Movement To Gaza Poland (@GMTG_Poland) October 1, 2025
Sterczewski also appealed to the Polish government to do all that it can to ensure that Polish participants in the flotilla are able to return home safely.
On Wednesday night, a similar message from Omar Faris, a Palestinian with Polish citizenship who leads the Socio-Cultural Association of Polish Palestinians, was released, followed on Thursday morning by another from Ewa Jasiewicz, a British-Polish journalist and author who has written extensively about Gaza.
Rafał Piotrowski, spokesman for Global Movement To Gaza Poland, told broadcaster TVN that a fourth Pole who had been on the flotilla, Nina Ptak, head of the Nomada Association, a Polish NGO supporting refugees and migrants, had also been detained by Israel. He called on the Polish foreign ministry to take action.
On Wednesday night, the ministry issued a statement saying that it was “monitoring the GSF situation” and was “in contact with the relevant institutions, including on the Israeli side”.
“We will act to provide care for Polish citizens, within the limits of the law and the realities of military operations,” they added. On Thursday morning, in a further statement, the ministry said that, “according to our information, [the Polish citizens on the flotilla] are safe and no one has been harmed”.
“Poland’s consul is already in Ashdod, where the detained individuals are being transported,” they added. “No Polish citizen will be left without care!”
Meanwhile, Israel’s foreign ministry on Thursday morning shared pictures of what it said were members of the flotilla who were being transported “safely and peacefully to Israel, where their deportation procedures to Europe will begin”.
Hamas-Sumud passengers on their yachts are making their way safely and peacefully to Israel, where their deportation procedures to Europe will begin. The passengers are safe and in good health. pic.twitter.com/pzzitP5jN8
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 2, 2025
On Thursday morning, Rafał Leśkiewicz, the spokesman for Polish President Karol Nawrocki, expressed little sympathy for the Poles involved in the incident.
The flotilla “is a propaganda mission”, Leśkiewicz told Polsat News. “Humanitarian aid should be carried out by organisations that deal with this on a daily basis, not by groups or forces who organise mass mobilisation.”
He noted that the Polish authorities have issued repeated warnings against attempting to travel to Gaza and suggested that those who ignore such warnings could be made to repay the costs of their repatriation to Poland.
Foreign minister Radosław Sikorski made a similar suggestion last week, after Sterczewski’s ship was among those in the flotilla attacked by drones.
On Wednesday – before Israel had intercepted the flotilla – deputy foreign minister Władysław Teofil Bartoszewski had urged those involved in GSF to stop. He said that it was a “political and propaganda mission” rather than a genuinely humanitarian one.
.@marcinfijolek: Czy @MSZ_RP albo prezydent powinni mocniej zareagować ws. @f_sterczewski?@LeskiewiczRafa: To misja propagandowa, humanitarne działania to nie pospolite ruszenie. Warto się zastanowić, czy nie obciążać kosztami takich osób, które nie słuchają MSZ. @sikorskiradek pic.twitter.com/M1KEP2FJeX
— Graffiti_PN (@Graffiti_PN) October 2, 2025
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: GMTG_Poland/X (screenshot)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
