The activist flotilla attempting to breach Israeli naval defenses and deliver aid to Gaza — led in part by 22-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg — is now under a deepening cloud of controversy, following the release of documents directly linking its organizers to Hamas.
According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry, documents recovered in Gaza expose concrete ties between the flotilla’s leadership and the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad (PCPA), an organization Israel has long alleged functions as a proxy for Hamas. Notably, two of the PCPA’s senior figures are identified as chief organizers behind the “Sumud Flotilla,” which was intercepted by Israeli naval forces earlier this week. Thunberg, who has become an increasingly outspoken figure on Middle Eastern issues, was reportedly detained during the operation.
The Israeli government has released portions of the recovered documentation, including a 2021 letter written by then-Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024. The letter appeals for “national unity” and reiterates Hamas's long-term goal: the establishment of an “independent state whose capital is the Holy Jerusalem.” According to the Foreign Ministry, this and other documents reveal a broader Hamas strategy to use flotillas and civilian organizations as vehicles for international activism — and, in some cases, political cover.
EXPOSED: Official Hamas documents found in the Gaza Strip - now revealed for the first time - prove Hamas’ direct involvement in the funding and execution of the “Sumud” flotilla to Gaza
Hamas documents that were discovered in the Gaza Strip, and are being revealed for the first… pic.twitter.com/arcbcqh2Kx
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) September 30, 2025
Perhaps most damning is the revelation that dozens of vessels involved in the flotilla are owned by Cyber Neptune, a shell company allegedly controlled by Hamas operative Saif Abu Kashk, a PCPA figure operating in Spain. Cyber Neptune reportedly owns a majority of the estimated 50 boats involved in the Sumud mission. “Thus, these ships are secretly owned by Hamas,” the ministry asserted.
Another key figure named in the documents, Zaher Birawi, was identified as leading Hamas’s outreach efforts through the PCPA in the UK. Birawi has long been involved in anti-Israel organizing, including previous flotilla campaigns. His role underscores what Israeli officials describe as an intricate network of Hamas-aligned operatives embedded within international activism campaigns, often leveraging Western civil society as a cloak.
While the flotilla has been publicly described by its organizers as a humanitarian mission to bring urgently needed aid to Gaza, Israeli officials assert that the true goal is to provoke a diplomatic incident. Oren Marmorstein, spokesperson for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said organizers refused offers from both the Israeli and Italian governments to safely deliver the aid directly into Gaza.
“They said no. Do you know why?” Marmorstein asked. “Because they’re not interested in aid — they’re interested in provocation.”
Greta Thunberg, for her part, has remained defiant, framing her role in the mission as a moral obligation. But the Israeli government's documentation, which includes names, ownership trails, and explicit political messaging, raises serious questions about whether humanitarian concern is the flotilla’s true guiding force — or whether the operation is another arm of Hamas’s long-running strategy to internationalize its conflict with Israel by staging confrontational spectacles on the world stage.