Western Massachusetts native Torleif Stumo announces in a recording posted on Instagram that an all-volunteer humanitarian aid flotilla he and his brother, Adnaan, were a part of was intercepted by the Israeli Navy.
Photo credit: @tor_tilla2gaza on Instagram
Editor’s Note: This is an updated version of a story originally published on Oct. 2. All information is current as of Oct. 7. This is a developing story. Follow TheReminder.com for more updates.
Two men with ties to Western Massachusetts who were part of an all-volunteer humanitarian aid flotilla intercepted by the Israeli Navy in waters outside of Gaza early the morning of Oct. 2 have reportedly been released from Ketziot prison in the Negev desert of Israel.
Sons of independent congressional candidate and Sheffield resident Nadia Milleron, the two Western Mass natives, Torleif and Adnaan Stumo, joined the initial 50-vessel Global Sumud Flotilla in Barcelona, Spain, in August with the hopes of establishing a humanitarian corridor to bring food and medicine to the besieged people of Gaza.
The two brothers had been in Israeli custody since Oct. 2. A prerecorded message posted on Toleif’s Instagram page @tor_till2gaza late in the evening on Oct. 1, Eastern time, announced he had been captured by Israeli forces.
On Oct. 6, Milleron shared with Reminder Publishing that representatives from the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem had visited her sons to determine that they have adequate food and water, and that medical attention has been requested for Torleif, who has injuries to his hands and wrists. At that time, Milleron added her two sons were taking part in a hunger strike to protest the interception of the flotilla. She anticipated her sons would be released in a few days.
The BBC news reported on Oct. 6 that Thunberg and 170 fellow activists were escorted to the airport by Israeli authorities for deportation. Of the more than 470 flotilla activists detained, 340 had already been returned to their home countries. Milleron said her sons were not among the detainees released on Oct. 6. An Instagram post by a fellow detainee indicated that all remaining flotilla activists were released by Israeli authorities early in the morning of Oct. 7.
Subsequent messages in the days after Torleif’s detention asked followers to contact U. S. Rep. Richard Neal and U.S. Sens. Edward Markey and Elizabeth Warren to pressure the U.S. government to petition Israel for their release. Contact information for the congressman and senators was provided in the post.
Torleif and Adnaan, ages 26 and 32, a trained ship’s engineer and a certified sailboat captain, respectively, were part of a force of 22,000 international volunteers, lawyers and organizers that pulled the Global Sumud Flotilla together in less than three months.
According to the running Instagram account posted by Torleif during the journey across the Mediterranean, the young men joined the volunteer effort to bring food and medical supplies to besieged Palestinians in Gaza on or about Aug. 23. The vessels being employed to take aid across the Mediterranean were either volunteer boats or donated craft.
Photo credit: @adnaanimo in Instagram
According to Reuters, the Global Sumud Flotilla was not the first effort to bring aid into Gaza, which has been under a blockade from outside aid for the past two years. None to date has been successful.
Milleron herself joined her sons in Barcelona in August to help outfit the boats for the trip across the Mediterranean.
“I helped inventory the boats. I took part in the nonviolent training,” Milleron shared, stressing that all members of the flotilla participated in specific training to ensure their reactions to any provocation during the journey would be non-violent.
Photo credit: @tor_tilla2gaza on Instagram.
She said that the trainers were aware the operation was being watched.
“The trainer was saying, ‘We know that Israeli intelligence is here in the training. We welcome you. We want you to know everything about our training to know we are non-violent,’” Milleron said. She added she saw a masked individual on a jet ski and drones checking out the boats and the preparations.
The flotilla left Barcelona on Sept. 3, stopping on the island of Minorca for more boat repairs, then continuing on to Tunisia to meet additional boats and volunteers. Torleif recorded on his Instagram page that the boats were bombed by quadcopters on two consecutive nights while at sea, one attack destroying the life jackets in the hold on a family’s boat, and another destroying the mast and main sail of another sailboat.
He noted that drones were a constant threat while on the open sea between ports, adding that the volunteers all donned life jackets when drones were spotted in the air around the boats.
After another delay for repairs, the flotilla left Tunisia on Sept. 11, with what Torleif recorded were “hundreds of people on the beach and on the port sending support.”
On Sept. 24, Torleif recorded another drone attack that exploded above the mast of one of the vessels.
The flotilla stopped again in Crete for supplies and repairs before continuing the journey on Sept. 27. On Sept. 29, he recorded that the flotilla hoped to reach Gaza in three days’ time.
During the journey, the Italian Navy had sent a ship to help protect its people, but that ship withdrew when the flotilla reached the blockade waters.
Reuters reported that Turkey and Spain also sent boats and drones in case their nationals required assistance. Reuters further noted that Israel’s interception of the flotilla sparked protests in Italy and Colombia, with protests also called for in Greece, Ireland and Turkey.
