[Editor's Note: Dr Zaheera's boat, Fair Lady, has been 'assumed intercepted' by Israeli forces. Read the latest here.]
Dr Zaheera Soomar (L) and on the right a screengrab from a live stream video shows people aboard a Gaza-bound vessel
"We are ok," came the message from Dr Zaheera Soomar, a UAE resident who is part of the Global Sumud flotilla, which is continuing to sail towards Gaza, even as other vessels of the convoy have been intercepted.
According to the latest updates shared by Dr Zaheera, the boat she is on, Fair Lady, is the last in the fleet and has managed to evade interception. At approximately 7.20am UAE time on Thursday, she told Khaleej Times, "We are ok. We are continuing to sail towards Gaza." She also added that several boats have not been intercepted and was hopeful that at least a few of them could reach the destination to deliver aid.
On social media, she had earlier posted, at around 4am UAE time, that a warship had approached her vessel. "It has made contact. We may need to throw phones soon, in case you don't hear from me again," she wrote. About half an hour later, she posted an update saying they had not yet been intercepted. "The warship didn't approach. It's near us, but I think it's busy with the other boats."
According to posts by the official account of the Global Sumud flotilla, her boat is among at least 30 vessels, which are now just 46 nautical miles away from Gaza.
At least 13 boats of the fleet have been intercepted by Israeli forces, who began boarding and taking control of the ships. In videos shared by the account, forces can be seen storming the vessel Alma, which has 29 people on board.
"Live-streams and communications have been cut. The status of participants and crew remains unconfirmed. This is an illegal attack on unarmed humanitarians," the account noted.
The account also shared that other intercepted boats include Adara, Spectre, Aurora, Dir Yassine, Huga and Yulara. In videos shared by Dr Zaheera and others on board the various vessels, Israeli forces can be seen firing water cannons at the flotilla boats.
Tough journey
With regular updates, Dr Zaheera has been sharing how their journey towards Gaza has been fraught with various difficulties, including rough seas and deliberate sabotage attempts.
Over the past month, the flotilla has been repeatedly hit by suspected drone attacks. In one such incident, some vessels were damaged beyond repair and had to be abandoned. She had shared videos of how the activists had rearranged themselves among the various vessels to make space for those in the abandoned boats.
In the last two days, she had also shared how she had been able to eat only toast due to motion sickness and vomiting. Earlier, the mother of three told Khaleej Times how she felt a calling to accompany the flotilla and had even put wills in place before embarking on the journey.
The flotilla
The Global Sumud Flotilla — involving around 45 vessels carrying 497 participants, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, from 46 countries- have been sailing for weeks now, aiming to break Israel's blockade of the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations says famine has set in. The boats are carrying 300 tonnes of essential supplies, including food, water and medicine for distribution in Gaza.
Earlier, Israel had said that it would do whatever was needed to stop the Gaza-bound flotilla from reaching its destination and claimed that the volunteers were trying to "breach a lawful naval blockade". The interception of these boats is illegal under international law; however, Israel has repeatedly blockaded previous flotillas and arrested the activists on board.
In 2010, Israel boarded a flotilla and killed 10 activists on board. Since then, no flotilla has ever been able to reach Gaza. The Global Sumud is the largest attempt ever to break the blockade.
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Nasreen Abdulla
Nasreen Abdulla is a Special Correspondent covering food, tech and human interest stories. When not...