Old video misleadingly featured in Gaza flotilla posts
- Published on October 6, 2025 at 08:16
- 2 min read
- By Anne CHAN, AFP Hong Kong
Copyright © AFP 2017-2025. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
"The save-the-Earth young lady was detained again by the Israeli military. The Global Sumud Flotilla sailed to within 70 nautical miles (130 kilometres, 81 miles) of Gaza," reads the simplified Chinese Weibo post shared on October 2, 2025 referring to Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg.
It also shares CCTV footage of soldiers boarding a ship and guarding a group of people wearing orange life jackets.
The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail last month, ferrying politicians and activists including Thunberg towards Gaza, where the United Nations says famine is taking hold (archived link).
On October 1, the Israeli navy began intercepting boats from theGlobal Sumud Flotilla (archived link).
An Israeli official said on October 2 that boats with over 400 people on board had been prevented from reaching the coastal territory.
The organiser has said all 42 vessels in the flotilla had been "illegally intercepted".
The clip was shared elsewhere on Weibo, Douyin, Baidu and Facebook and in other languages including English, Indonesian and Burmese.
However, the video shows Israeli troops intercepting another Gaza-bound aid ship, the Handala, months before the blockage of the Global Sumud Flotilla.
AFP distributed the original footage from the organiser -- Freedom Flotilla Coalition -- on July 26, with a caption saying it shows Israeli troops boarding the ship (archived link).
"The activists seated on deck, hold their hands up whistling the Italian anti-fascist song 'Bella Ciao', as the soldiers take control of the vessel," it reads.
A reverse image search on Google using keyframes shows other outlets, including CNN, Qatar's Al Jazeera and Australia's ABC News, also used the footage in their reports of the incident (archived here, here and here).
Israel had already blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, before Global Sumud Flotilla left Spain in August (archived link).
In June, 12 activists on board the sailboat Madleen were intercepted by Israeli forces 185 kilometres (115 miles) west of Gaza. Its passengers, including Thunberg, were detained and eventually expelled.
In July, 21 activists from 10 countries were intercepted as they tried to approach Gaza on another vessel, the Handala.
The flotilla hopes to help relieve the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel's war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas grinds on (archived link). Israel denies the existence of famine in the coastal territory.
The war erupted in October 2023, triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory military campaign since then has killed 67,139 Palestinians in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable (archived link).
AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to the Gaza-bound aid flotilla here and here.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
