Major aid flotilla set to sail for Gaza to ‘break illegal siege’
BARCELONA
A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, was set to leave from Barcelona on Aug. 31 to try to "break the illegal siege of Gaza,” according to organizers.
The vessels will set off from the Spanish port city to "open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” said the Global Sumud Flotilla, who describes itself as an independent group not linked to any government or political party. Sumud means "perseverance" in Arabic.
They did not say how many ships would set sail or the exact time of departure.
The flotilla is expected to arrive at the war-ravaged coastal enclave in mid-September.
"This will be the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and more boats than all previous attempts combined," Brazilian activist Thiago Avila told journalists in Barcelona last week.
Organizers say that dozens of other vessels are expected to leave Tunisian and other Mediterranean ports on Sept. 4.
Activists will also stage simultaneous demonstrations and other protests in 44 countries "in solidarity with the Palestinian people,” Thunberg, part of the flotilla's steering committee, wrote on Instagram.
As well as Thunberg, the flotilla will include activists from several countries, European lawmakers and public figures such as former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau.
"We understand that this is a legal mission under international law," left-wing Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortagua, who will join the mission, told journalists in Lisbon last week.
Aid flotillas like the one preparing to leave for Gaza would not be necessary if governments upheld international law, Thunberg told AFP on Aug. 30.
"It should not have to be up to us," said the 22-year-old Swedish campaigner.
"A mission like this should not have to exist," she added.
"It is the responsibility of countries, of our governments and elected officials to act to try to uphold international law, to prevent war crimes, to prevent genocide," she said.
"That is their legal duty to do. And they are failing to do so. And thereby betraying Palestinians but also all of humanity."
Israel has already blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July.
In June, 12 activists on board the sailboat Madleen, from France, Germany, Brazil, Türkiye, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, were intercepted by Israeli forces 185 kilometers (115 miles) west of Gaza.
Its passengers, who included Thunberg, were detained and eventually expelled.
In July, 21 activists from 10 countries were intercepted as they tried to approach Gaza in another vessel, the Handala.
