Expect to reach red zone early Wednesday: Shahidul Alam

As part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the ship Conscience bound for Gaza is expected to reach the ‘red zone’ early tomorrow, Wednesday.

Drik’s Managing Director and photographer Shahidul Alam shared this information today, Tuesday, in a post on social media platform Facebook. Shahidul Alam himself is also aboard the Conscience ship.

By ‘red zone,’ Shahidul Alam referred to the dangerous area where Israeli forces recently intercepted the Sumud Flotilla and detained rights activists.

“We are somewhat behind schedule as we decided not to leave behind the boats of the 'Thousand Madleens' smaller and slower vehicles which are also part of FFC, though we have progressed much faster than the Sumud Flotilla which had faced temporary stoppages due to high winds and a significant storm,” Shahidul Alam writes in Facebook.

“The slower boats have now caught up with us and we are about 70 nautical miles from the 'red zone', the region where IDF have in the past illegally intercepted previous flotillas,” he added.

Today, Tuesday, marks the second anniversary of the pro-independence Palestine groups Hamas’ attacks in Israel and the subsequent Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip. Shahidul Alam also mentioned this in his Facebook post.

Shahidul Alam writes, “It is the morning of the 7th October 2025. It was on this day, two years ago, that Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups launched a surprise attack on Israel, in which 1,195 Israelis and foreign nationals, including 815 civilians, were killed. 251 were taken hostage with the stated goal of forcing Israel to release Palestinian prisoners.”

“Since the start of the Israeli offensive that followed, over 67,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed, almost half of them women and children, and more than 169,000 injured,” he added.

“A study in The Lancet estimated that traumatic injury deaths were undercounted by June 2024, while noting a potentially even larger death toll when "indirect" deaths are included,” Shahidul Alam said citing Wikipedia.

Shahidul Alam said, “We are on board the Conscience which is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). Vessels of the earlier Sumud flotilla, also part of the FFC, which also tried to break the siege of Palestine, have all been captured by the Israeli military.”

“We are proceeding regardless. Conscience is made up mostly of journalists and medics, as these are the two professional groups that Israel have specifically targeted killing journalists and health workers at a frequency unprecedented in history. This is a statement by these two groups which challenges the illegality of these targeted killings and the illegal siege of Gaza,” he added.

Israel has been preventing foreign journalists from entering Gaza for the past two years. During this time, Israeli forces have been targeting Palestinian journalists. Since October 2023, more than 270 journalists have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza, while many others have been detained and imprisoned.