- By Umam Noor
- Tue, 14 Oct 2025 06:37 PM (IST)
- Source:JNM
A video showing several boats and yachts sailing in one direction is going viral on social media. It is being shared with the claim that over 50 boats from 44 countries are heading to Gaza to ‘break the siege’.
Vishvas News, in its investigation, found the viral claim to be fake. The video is from a celebration by football fans in Türkiye. According to reports, the ‘Global Sumud Flotilla’, a separate initiative, has indeed departed to deliver medicine and food supplies to Gaza, involving over 40 civilian ships and around 500 participants, including parliamentarians, lawyers, and human rights activists. However, many of these ships have been stopped by Israel.
What is in the Viral Post?
Facebook user Shabbir Ansar posted the viral video on October 1, 2025, with the caption: "Free Palestine. The Global Sumud Flotilla, with people from 44 countries, is advancing towards Gaza with over 50 boats to break the siege of Gaza. This is the largest civilian flotilla in modern history so far."
See the archived version of the post here.
Investigation
To begin our investigation, we closely analysed the viral video and noticed red and yellow flags on several boats. Using Google Lens, we conducted a reverse image search on a keyframe from the video.
The search led us to a report published on the Turkish news website Meyralem. According to the report dated May 25, 2025, "Thousands of Galatasaray fans gathered in Yenikapı to celebrate their team's victory. The team celebrated with its fans at a ‘Champions Fest’ after winning the 2023-24 Super League."
Continuing our investigation, we discovered the same video shared on a TikTok account named 'batu.kaya.21'. Using a VPN, we accessed the video, which was uploaded there on May 26, and the caption confirmed that this is a video of Galatasaray (football club) fans.
We also came across another upload of the identical footage on the Instagram handle 'footy.rage', dated May 27, 2025. The caption there read: "Galatasaray celebrated its 25th championship title in Istanbul with millions of fans and a boat parade. The team's celebration flotilla of hundreds of boats crossed the Bosphorus to reach the festival grounds."
As we continued our investigation, we checked the official X (formerly Twitter) handle of Galatasaray. The page confirmed that Galatasaray is a football club from Türkiye. On this account, we found another version of the viral video, shared on May 26, 2025, showing the same celebration.
Further investigation led us to several related reports. A May 25, 2025 report by OneFootball.com stated, "While there have been several championship celebrations across Europe in recent weeks, the one in Istanbul today from Galatasaray and its fans was the most spectacular. The team's yacht crossed the Bosphorus accompanied by hundreds of boats, all celebrating together in unison." The Turkish news website Daily Sabah also covered the event, confirming the same.
A CNN report from October 2, 2025 stated: "Ships have set sail from various Mediterranean ports to break Israel's 18-year-long siege on Gaza and deliver aid to the war-affected area. As of about 9:15 AM local time on Thursday, 23 GSF ships were still on their journey, while 21 ships had been stopped. Flotilla organizers decried this as an 'illegal attack' on humanitarianism. Meanwhile, Israel says these activists are interested not in aid, but in provocation."
According to an October 2, 2025 Reuters report, “The Global Sumud Flotilla has set sail to deliver medicine and food supplies to Gaza and involves over 40 civilian ships, carrying nearly 500 parliamentarians, lawyers, and human rights activists. On Thursday, Israeli forces stopped 14 ships headed for Gaza, which were carrying foreign activists and aid supplies. Despite this, according to the flotilla's tracking system, 23 ships were still advancing towards the war-affected Palestinian area.”
A report in The Guardian from October 2, 2025, stated: "The Israeli navy has stopped 13 ships in the aid flotilla heading to Gaza on Thursday, carrying about 200 people from several countries, including Spain and Italy. Dozens of other ships continue their journey towards the coast of the Gaza Strip."
According to an October 1, 2025 report from Al Jazeera English, “Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was also aboard one of these convoy ships and has been detained.”
For verification, we contacted senior journalist Saurabh Shahi, an experienced reporter on the Gaza-Israel conflict. He confirmed that citizens from several countries are attempting to deliver relief supplies to Gaza via boats, but many of these boats have been intercepted.
Lastly, we conducted a social scan of the Facebook user, Shabbir Ansar, who shared the misleading post and found that the user has over 5800 followers and is active on social media.
Conclusion: Vishvas News, in its investigation, found that the viral claim is false. The video shows a celebration by football fans in Türkiye. Furthermore, according to news reports, the Global Sumud Flotilla, comprising over 40 civilian ships carrying nearly 500 parliamentarians, lawyers, and human rights activists, has departed to deliver medicines and food supplies to Gaza. However, many of these ships have been intercepted by Israel.