As Shahid Mahmood walks along the upper deck of his ship, he unfurls a Canadian flag hanging off the rail. It’s become tangled up around the metal bar, lapping in the winds gusting over the Mediterranean.
Mahmood, who normally works as a software engineer in Belleville, Ont., is one of 12 Canadians aboard a fleet of ships heading to Gaza. There used to be more, but six Canadians have been detained by Israeli forces, according to the Global Samud Flotilla organization.
The group has identified Canadians Michael France, Omar Shaban, Safa Chebbi, Norrad Bouzide, Sebastian Tow and Ko Tinmaung among those detained.
A video posted to the organization’s X account appeared to show France and seven others on a small boat sailing with the flotilla, made up of more than 50 vessels, which departed from Turkiye last week, according to The Associated Press.
Israel has briefly detained a number of other Canadians from Gaza-bound flotillas since the war with Hamas started in 2023. Flotilla organizers say their objective is to deliver aid to the Palestinian people and break what they call an illegal siege on the territory.
The organization has led several trips of this kind in an attempt to reach Gaza’s shoreline. Greta Thunberg and several other prominent activists joined a convoy of ships that embarked last October, dozens of which were intercepted.
“This is the aid that we have,” said Mahmood, speaking to CTV News from the ship via video conference. He motioned to a bundle of goods at the front of the vessel, which includes diapers and baby formula.
“Mostly, it’s baby food and medicine,” he said.
The payload is not likely to reach the shore. Israel has maintained a blockade over Gaza since Hamas took control of the territory in 2007.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry posted video of what it said depicts flotilla activists being transferred onto Israel’s vessels.
“So far, no aid has been found on their boats,” reads the post.
Detained Canadians to launch hunger strike
The Global Samud Flotilla group says Canadian participants had previously agreed to stage a hunger strike if detained by Israeli forces.
“We have chosen the hunger strike as a form of political expression not to elicit sympathy for our own plight, but to remind the world that thousands of Palestinians have been enduring confinement, arbitrary detention, and prison violence for decades in almost total silence,” reads a statement from Safa Chebbi, the organization’s Canadian spokesperson.
Olivier Huard, a Montreal activist and arborist, could not see any Israeli ships from his vantage on top of his boat, but told CTV News the Canadian crew expects them any time.
Huard spoke to CTV News from a separate boat from Mahmood’s in the Mediterranean. At the time of the interview on Monday, he was about 194 nautical miles from the Gazan shoreline but said he’s not sure when they would reach the strip.
“We can change course, we can have different strategy. We’re not as fast as the military, but we’re also really agile,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a really long night, because if we’re not intercepted before sunset, we have to stay really aware all night long.”
With files from CTV News’ Jordan Fleguel, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
