Gaza-bound flotilla rejects Israeli claims of Hamas funding

A spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla on Tuesday rejected accusations by the Israeli Foreign Ministry that the humanitarian convoy has been financed by Hamas, describing them as propaganda.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry published on its X account two documents that it claimed “prove Hamas’ direct involvement in the funding and execution of the Sumud Flotilla”.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the documents were discovered in the Gaza Strip and were being revealed for the first time.  

The first document is a letter from 2021, signed by top Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in Tehran by an Israeli attack in 2024. It revealed a close link between Hamas and the organisation Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad.

The Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad was established in Turkey in 2017 by the Palestinian diaspora from around the world to involve it in political participation and national decision-making. 

It regularly releases statements on the current situation in Gaza and the West Bank, and other issues related to Palestine.

PCPA was designated “an institution established by the Hamas Organisation” by the Israeli Ministry of Defence in August 2021, which considers it “a proxy for the Hamas organization”.

A second document lists PCPA members operating mainly in Europe, including Saif Abu Kashk, the alleged CEO of Cyber Neptune, a private Spanish maritime company that “owns dozens of the ships participating in the Sumud Flotilla”, according to the accusations.

According to Spanish registers, a person named Saif Abdelrahim Abukeshek is listed as the CEO of Cyber Neptune, a society based in Barcelona. According to the publicly available records, the company changed its corporate purpose from real estate to maritime transportation of people and goods, with Abukeshek taking control just days before the Global Sumud Flotilla's departure on 31 August.

Abukeshek has repeatedly rejected accusations by the Israeli government of his involvement with Hamas, stating on social media that “My work with Cyber Neptune and the flotilla has been fully transparent and focused solely on delivering life-saving aid to Gaza’s besieged population.”

Euronews could not independently verify whether the company owns any vessels joining the Flotilla. Spanish maritime records did not have any public information available on ships owned by Cyber Neptune.

Euronews was also not able to independently verify the authenticity of the documents, although they seem to be consistent in language and appearance with official communiques from Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the EU, US and other countries in the world.

The Global Sumud Flotilla spokesperson Maria Elena Delia labelled Israel’s claim as “propaganda”, in a statement released to news agency Ansa. 

“The papers shown by Israel prove neither Hamas' financing nor control over the Global Sumud Flotilla,” she said.

“We are a civil and humanitarian mission, in the eyes of Europe and the world. We ask that the papers be handed over in full to independent bodies: until that happens, [this claim] is just propaganda, not evidence,” she added.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is an international civil society-led maritime initiative comprising over 50 vessels with thousands of participants from more than 44 countries.

It has not been endorsed by any governments, and its stated mission aimed at breaking Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and delivering humanitarian aid including food and medicine to the besieged Palestinian territory has been repeatedly challenged by Israel.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry accused the flotilla of being Hamas-led and “sailing without authorisation and in violation of international law, to break the blockade on Gaza, which is also defined as a war zone.” 

“This is a coordinated Hamas attack against the State of Israel, under a seemingly civilian and humanitarian cover,” the statement said.

Delia said Israel was repeating "a troubling pattern already seen in 2010 with the Mavi Marmara”, referring to an incident 15 years ago.

At that time six civilian ships of what organisers called the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” refused to stop after having received a warning from the Israeli Navy and were raided in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea, with 10 deaths resulting from the raid.

The Global Sumud Flotilla is currently navigating north of Egypt’s eastern coast, and by late Wednesday should reach a zone in international waters where boats attempting to break the naval blockade around Gaza have previously been intercepted by the Israeli navy.

Euronews has contacted MEPs Benedetta Scuderi (Greens/EFA) and Annalisa Corrado (S&D) for further comment.