2 Mass. men in custody after Israeli Navy seizes Gaza aid flotilla
Two men with Massachusetts ties are believed to be in Israeli custody after their boats were among 42 vessels seized late Wednesday en route to Gaza with stories of food and medicine.
After being monitored and harassed by Israeli drones along its route across the Mediterranean, boats in the flotilla were pounded by water cannons from Israeli Navy ships, according to various news sources.
Both Massachusetts participants – Adnaan and Tor Stumo of Sheffield – plan to begin hunger strikes to protest Israel's move to prevent more than 440 occupants of boats in the Global Sumud Flotilla from reaching Gaza, their mother said in a phone interview Thursday.
"They don't want to take in any food from an entity starving Gazans," said Nadia Milleron, the men's mother.
Adnaan Stumo, 32, was aboard the ship called the Mikeno, which reportedly succeeded in breaking Israel's naval blockade of Gaza, before also being boarded and its passengers detained.
"He was on one of the last boats to be taken," said Milleron. "It's very important that Adnaan's boat got into Gaza territorial waters."
The brothers began the trip toward Gaza Aug. 31, setting off from Barcelona as part of an international aid effort to confront starvation in Gaza. According to the World Health Organization, more than 500,000 people in Gaza are "trapped in famine" amid widespread starvation.
The Israeli government had called the aid convoy a "provocation" and said it would prevent the ships and cargo from reaching Gaza.
Last week, the flotilla was attacked over the course of three hours while underway in the open Mediterranean, with ships suffering damage. In a statement, the flotilla said it came under fire off the coast of Crete, in Greece, from "multiple drones."
"Unidentified objects dropped, communications jammed and explosions heard from a number of boats," the flotilla said in a statement quoted by the Times of Israel.
In a statement this week, the Israeli government said it carried out its pledge.
"None of the Hamas-Sumud provocation yachts has succeeded in its attempt to enter an active combat zone or breach the lawful naval blockade," the Israeli foreign ministry said. At the time, one boat, believed to be Adnaan Stumo's vessel, had not been seized.
This combination of images released by the Israeli Foreign Ministry shows Greta Thunberg, second from right, with other flotilla activists after the Israeli navy intercepted the Global Sumud Flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. (Israeli Foreign Ministry via AP)AP
"One last vessel of this provocation remains at a distance," the statement said. "If it approaches, its attempt to enter an active combat zone and breach the blockade will also be prevented."
"All passengers are safe and in good health," the Israeli foreign ministry said in an earlier statement reported by the Guardian. "They are being safely transported to Israel, and from there they will be deported to Europe."
The Guardian reported Thursday that the detainees were to be taken to Ketziot prison in the Negev desert. Anyone who refuses to be deported faces trial for illegal entry into the country.
Amnesty International's secretary general said Thursday the seizure was designed "to punish and silence critics of Israel's genocide and its unlawful blockade on Gaza."
As the Israeli Navy closed in, passengers on the boats threw their cell phones into the ocean to prevent them from being used to track past communications among flotilla members, Milleron said.
Tor Stumo, 26, was on the third ship to be taken over by the Israeli Navy. Adnaan Stumo got word to his mother that he had seen the boat that Tor Stumo had been on pass by his own craft, now piloted by an Israeli crew.
Tor Stumo reports from a vessel taking part in an aid convoy heading to Gaza. (Photo courtesy of Tor Stumo)Staff
"They put all the people on a prison ship," Milleron said. People taken into custody were relocated to the Israeli city of Ashdod, roughly 20 miles north of the Gazan border.
She expected that her sons – "in detention in a country they never wished or intended to go to" – will receive assistance from Adalah, a non-governmental organization that provides legal aid. Families of those detained are being told it may take days for the cases to be addressed.
"There's just a big backlog of people," Milleron said.
In phone calls Thursday to the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem, Milleron said American officials were monitoring the status of the detainees. She said she was told by the State Department that the Americans might remain in custody through the coming weekend, in part because it is a holiday week in Israel.
Jack Chamberland, a member of U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal's staff, asked for a photocopy of the local men's passports to help with processing their release.
Milleron said she was also in touch Thursday with staff in the offices of both Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey.
Israel announced that the vessels, which had been donated to the flotilla, will be sold at auction.
"They should not be able to take that property, but they are," Milleron said.
Both Adnaan and Tor Stumo work in the maritime industry. Tor Stumo is trained as a ship's engineer. Adnaan Stumo is a sailboat captain familiar with the Mediterranean and has sailed across both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
While the flotilla's progress toward Gaza had been monitored by tracking devices, those electronics were disabled after the ships were seized Wednesday, leaving blank areas on an online map of the mission.
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