What was claimed
A video shows the Mikeno boat in the Global Sumud Flotilla arriving on the shores of Gaza.
Our verdict
The footage actually shows crowds on Sidi Bou Said beach in Tunisia in September 2025 showing support for the Global Sumud Flotilla. The Mikeno boat was intercepted by the Israeli military and did not land in Gaza.
A video has been widely shared on social media with an implied claim it shows a boat from the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) arriving in Gaza.
This is not true—none of the flotilla’s 42 boats are reported to have successfully reached Gaza’s shores, and the video actually shows crowds supporting the flotilla in Tunisia in September 2025.
The posts have captions saying a boat called the Mikeno “has arrived on the shores of Gaza”.
But using reverse image search, Full Fact found similar footage in a Reuters news report about a demonstration in support of the flotilla on the Sidi Bou Said beach near Tunis on 10 September 2025.
While this is not the same footage, the distinctive pylons and skyline across the water in the social media video (around 18 seconds in) match those visible from Sidi Bou Said beach. Similar footage showing the scene in Tunisia from different angles was also posted on social media in September.
According to a tracker on the Global Sumud Flotilla’s website, the Mikeno was in the area of Sidi Bou Said beach on 10 September 2025, but it’s unclear if it appears in the social media video.
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According to the GSF the vessel was intercepted on 2 October. While it may have entered Gaza’s territorial waters, the tracker did not show it arriving on the shores.
According to some news reports, the Mikeno breached the Israeli blockade, with the vessel reported to have been idling stationary some nine nautical miles from Gaza before being stopped. However, Israel’s foreign ministry said on 2 October none of the GSF boats breached the blockade, although it was not clear if they were including the Mikeno in this.
We often see miscaptioned footage being shared widely on social media. Before reposting something you see, first consider whether it comes from a reliable and trustworthy source. Our toolkit and guide on how to check misleading videos can help you do this.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as missing context because the footage was filmed in Tunisia, not Gaza.
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