Ames Simmons, a Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School graduate who grew up as an avid sailor on the Island, was placed in custody in Israel after being detained for a second time. He was part of the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza, a civilian-led maritime mission that aims to break a naval blockade restricting aid from reaching Palestinian people who live in the Gaza Strip.
The initiative has received international attention through the efforts of those aboard the flotilla, and recently, through the advocacy of environmental youth activist Greta Thunberg, who sailed on a mission to Gaza in early 2025, and has more than 21 million followers across social media platforms.
Like Thunberg, Simmons, 23, was detained by Israeli forces. On Monday, Simmons’ ship was boarded, and he was taken as a prisoner.
Last Friday, Simmons spoke with The Times on a secure call app. Two days later, he said he was planning to go on a hunger strike with his crew if detained by Israel again. On Monday at 8:48 am Eastern Standard Time, which would have been late afternoon in the waters off Israel, Simmons messaged The Times, “Hunger strike starts now!”
The Times confirmed with a representative for the Global Sumud Flotilla that the ship, L’Arq, was intercepted by Israeli ships at about 5 pm their time. The crew, including Simmons, who says he served as first mate, was taken aboard the Israeli vessel, and Simmons was detained again.
“What we know so far is that the boats were attacked, and all of the civilians were abducted,” Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American lawyer and co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement, which is among the organizers of the flotilla, told The Times on a phone call on Tuesday.
Arraf said, “To the best of our knowledge, they are being held right now on a floating prison ship.” She added, “It looks like that prison ship that’s carrying all of these civilians is headed toward the Israeli port of Ashdod.”
The Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C., did not respond to a request for comment. Simmons’ family on the Island also did not respond to The Times.
An official account by the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted on X on Monday stated, “All 430 activists have been transferred to Israeli vessels, and are making their way to Israel, where they will be able to meet with their consular representatives. This flotilla has once again proved to be nothing more than a PR stunt at the service of Hamas. Israel will continue to act in full accordance with international law, and will not permit any breach of the lawful naval blockade on Gaza.”
Simmons said his efforts and those of the flotilla are fueled by a sense of empathy and support for human rights. Simmons never mentioned Hamas, an Islamist militant group that controls Gaza, to The Times, as having anything to do with his choice to go.
In the interview on Friday, Simmons said his reason for going was to help people he saw were suffering, and also because of his seafarer experience. The entire journey was one of aid, but mainly to bring awareness to what the group believes is an illegal sea blockade around Gaza that is preventing food and aid from getting into the country.
The collapse of the humanitarian effort has caused critical food shortages in Gaza, and in September, the U.N. declared that parts of Gaza were suffering what was determined to be a famine. Since an October ceasefire, delivery of aid has improved, but remains severely restricted, according to international aid experts.
According to Simmons and a growing list of international organizations, including the U.N. Independent International Commission as well as Amnesty International, Israel’s actions in Gaza amount to genocide. Israel and many Jewish organizations around the world strongly disagree, and the issue is hotly debated.
“As a collective, we’ve stopped feeling the weight of genocide,” Simmons told The Times on Friday. “There’s a genocide basically being live-streamed all the time; that we’ve collectively sort of stopped thinking about it is really strange. So I think that it’s important for everyone to be heartbroken and not look away from things, even though they’re really intense.”
Since his ship was most recently captured after Friday’s interview, Simmons has been unreachable. His friends, fellow Islanders who grew up with Simmons, have been incessantly contacting state and local representatives to ensure his release from Israel.
“[Simmons has] sailed around the world before, so was gone for 18 months last time, but it wasn’t as dangerous,” Jo Orr, Simmons’ childhood friend, told The Times. “I’ve been calling all the representatives … There was a live stream from all of the boats with the cameras from the boats, and when their camera went down, we kind of knew they had been intercepted.”
In a video posted on the Global Sumud Flotilla Instagram page, Simmons was seen with his crew. Six of them sat on the hull of a narrow, tall ship. All wore bright orange life jackets. One person in the group announced, “If you’re watching this, we have been intercepted by the IOF [Israeli occupation forces].”
Before his capture, Simmons described his first detainment and the events leading up to it. He arrived in Italy on April 25, and spent a few weeks training in nonviolent maneuvers and drills. He is an experienced sailor, and mentioned he had even sailed around the world in a tall ship after high school. His start, though, was the Sail MV summer camp, where he learned how to tack and jibe on a 13-foot 420 sailboat. At a young age, Simmons was hooked.
After training, Simmons boarded one of 22 ships, a vessel named Marea, and sailed the Mediterranean Sea along with more than a hundred other activists from roughly 56 countries. Simmons was sailing for only about three days before drones were spotted circling their vessel off the coast of Crete, about 600 miles from the coast of Gaza.
“We’d done so many drills for interception, and were prepared for it … It was mostly just sort of tedious. I feel like I messaged like every person who’s ever smelled me,” Simmons said with a laugh.
For five hours, the crew waited to be boarded by the small motorboats that were circling their fleet of ships, the largest maritime flotilla mission so far. Once they were taken on Israeli vessels, they were moved to a “massive cargo vessel,” where Simmons said they were made to “kneel in the water in stress positions for a while” and searched.
The flotilla crew of about 100 was led to a makeshift ship prison, made from storage containers and barbwire fences.
Simmons said the group made demands for food and first aid, and to see six detainees who had been taken to solitary confinement. When they weren’t listened to initially, they protested by banging on the storage containers and shouting through the night. Then, a glimmer of land flashed in the distance.
That day, they landed on Greek shores, Simmons said.
At this point, the detainees started refusing to comply with orders from Israeli officers. Simmons said this is when “excessive force” was used.
“They were shooting flashbang canisters; I had one go off like five feet from my head … They kneed me in the face when it was my turn to be dragged, I lost my glasses — that’s how I lost my glasses — never saw them again,” Simmons said.
After the sailors were taken to the shore, Greek officials took over. Israeli officers released Simmons and the others, who were detained into their custody. Simmons said the events that happened after were a blur, literally: He could barely see without his glasses. They were taken to the middle of nowhere, and eventually ended up walking miles to an airport to deal with their passports.
Some crew members went to the hospital to get treated for injuries inflicted by the soldiers; others went their own way. Simmons decided to continue in the Global Sumud Flotilla, joining the L’Arq. There, serving as first mate, he sailed alongside 54 other vessels, all determined to get to Gaza with aid in the hold of the ships.
Reflecting on his journey after being detained once in pursuit of delivering aid, Simmons said, “I think that they just wanted to freak us out, and like, definitely wanted to disrupt our numbers, but all they’ve done is make me firmer in my resolve.”
He was closer to Gaza than he had ever been when he was intercepted by Israeli officials again. The event was caught on a live stream on the Global Sumud Flotilla website, which showed Israeli officers in green padded armor and face masks in a motorboat surrounding the ships.
Editor’s note: Updated to correct that IOF stands for Israeli occupation forces.
These ships were confiscated and the crew abducted in international waters– How is that legal, and what was their crime?
The abductees were treated poorly, and some were injured. How is that humanely acceptable ?
They were carrying a symbolic amount of aid– of course they were — organizations like this know the Israeli forces will steal it all and eat it. Ironically that is exactly what the IDF claims Hamas does. The way I look at it is that I don’t care which side you are on –stealing food destined to help starving children is morally reprehensible and repugnant.
And before the usual suspects attempt to justify or defend these illegal, immoral and inhumane actions, have any of you ever been forced at gunpoint to “kneel in the water in stress positions for a while” ?
You have bought into the assertion that there is stealing and kneeling, and you know nothing firsthand about this Keller. There is nothing immoral or inhumane in arresting troublemakers in Israeli waters. No one is abducted, no one is in danger of being shot. Please get it right.
Andy– come on –Since when is “about 600 miles, or the second time, 250 miles off the coast of Gaza “Israeli waters” ? I know Ames personally– he is not a liar. Nor do I think the other hundred people are all liars., especially since many of them required medical treatment. Dozens of heavily armed Israeli sailors board vessels and no one is in danger of being shot ? Here’s the definition of “abduct” —” to force someone to go somewhere with you, often using threats or violence:” — Cambridge dictionary.— So where are the ships ? Where is the aid ? Do you need the definition of “stolen” You just deny everything you don’t want to believe– I am amazed that you have the gall to tell me to “please get it right” . And Murray– Think about all the people who were arrested multiple times protesting against slavery, protesting for the right of women to vote– the civil rights movement, the Vietnam war, workers rights, and many other causes? And yes — one for you– all those dedicated people who were arrested multiple times for illegal actions at abortion clinics. Courageous people with character and conviction do not cower to authoritarian demands. No matter the risk.
Don, once again you are ringing the bell dramatically while skipping over the central fact here: these activists openly trained for interception, expected interception, live-streamed the confrontation, and returned after already being detained once before.
People are free to debate whether Israel’s naval blockade is justified, effective, excessive, or even lawful under international law. But the blockade itself is not some secret. It has existed for years, and these activists knowingly attempted to challenge it.
That does not mean people cannot criticize Israel’s tactics or treatment of detainees. Fair criticism is legitimate. But describing this as some random innocent boating trip shattered by surprise “abductions” ignores the reality that confrontation with Israeli forces was always the intended and foreseeable outcome.
Even Simmons himself admitted they trained for interception drills and anticipated this scenario. At some point, it becomes difficult to separate humanitarian concern from political theater designed specifically to provoke an international incident and media attention.
Predictable things tend to happen predictably.
Hope they get home safe…..
Why should I feel bad for this person? He was already detained once doing the exact same thing and openly admitted they expected interception again. At some point, this stops being a shocking humanitarian story and starts looking like a deliberate political stunt with fully understood consequences.
And it is fair to ask: is this really about delivering aid, or about drawing attention to themselves and the cause through a very predictable confrontation?
He clearly believes strongly in the mission and had every right to protest peacefully. But after already being detained once, returning to do it again makes the outcome pretty predictable. The livestreams, hunger-strike talk, and constant media attention all seem built into the strategy.
People can sympathize with suffering in Gaza while still questioning whether these flotilla missions are genuine humanitarian efforts or largely media-driven political theater.
After the first detention, you would think they already got the memo about how this was going to end.
Now there is a picture that says a thousand words. What virtuous bravery! One wonders why such fine young Americans would pick Gaza when 25,000 humans, 10,000 of them children, actually die of hunger every day elsewhere in the world.