A new flotilla bound for Gaza departed Kinsale on Sunday.*
American activist Frank Romano said he has a certain amount of “trepidation” about his latest voyage.
Romano, one of 10 activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition boat Kate, was speaking in Kinsale a couple of hours before leaving the Cork seaside town where the ship was berthed since last Tuesday. Local solidarity groups, including Kinsale for Palestine, hosted fundraising events.
Romano (74) has been imprisoned four times by Israeli forces for his political activity. A retired professor of law at Paris Nanterre University and a graduate of the Sorbonne, he represents the Palestinian people before the International Criminal Court (ICC) against members of the Israeli government accused of war crimes against Palestinians.
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He will be leading training on a stop-off at Sicily where the activists from the Kate, as well as from its sister ship the Handala 2, will reunite and undergo retraining.
“We have two different types of training: interception training and responding to drone attacks. We will go into the legal aspects of interception so we know when we’re being interviewed what is illegal under international law and what is not.”
Romano has been involved in an interfaith group inspired by a sojourn in a kibbutz. “In the kibbutz, there were Muslims, Jews and Christians. We would come together and share stories. It was a good person-to-person way to try and find common ground with respect to the religions and cultures.”
Before this mission, the most recent one that Romano took part in was in May. He was on the first Global Sumud Flotilla mission to Gaza, which set sail in August 2025. “When intercepted, we were pushed around by Israeli commandos and not given food.”
Romano says “Our actions aim to safeguard international law and promote the right of the Palestinian people to freedom of movement, self determination and dignity.”
More than half of the Palestinians in the Gaza strip are children, says the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The ship’s activists are international. The captain, who will be steering the boat as far as France, is Irishman Fiacc O’Brolchain.
Freedom Flotilla steering committee member Zohar Chamberlain Regev said she believed it was important to continue with the flotillas. “We have choices but the people of Gaza have no choice.”
An Israeli Government spokesperson has been contacted.
*A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the flotilla was bringing aid to Gaza, this was corrected on August 24th, 2026.
