Global Sumud Flotilla to Sail Toward Gaza Today to Break Israeli Blockade
Madrid (Quds News Network)- The largest civilian and humanitarian fleet since the Israeli blockade of Gaza began is set to sail to the Palestinian enclave today from Barcelona, as Israel continues to block aid from entering the territory for over five months, with the IPC officially declaring a famine in Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla will be the “biggest attempt ever to break the illegal Israeli siege over Gaza”, said Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who is part of the flotilla’s steering committee and will be on board.
“The question here today is not why we are sailing. The story is not at all about the mission we are about to embark. The story here is about Palestine,” she said during a news conference in Barcelona before departure. “The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive, and the story here is how the world can be silent.”
Israel, Thunberg said, is “very clear about their genocidal intent”.
“They want to erase the Palestinian nation. They want to take over the Gaza Strip. If that doesn’t make people act, if that doesn’t make people go out of their couch and take action, fill the streets, get organised, then I don’t know what will.”
In addition to the ships leaving Spain today, dozens of other vessels are expected to leave Tunisian and other Mediterranean ports on September 4, said Thunberg, who was previously abducted by Israeli forces and deported from Israel after taking part in a Gaza aid flotilla mission.
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,” said left-wing Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortagua, who will join the mission.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is the largest civilian and humanitarian fleet ever to sail for Gaza, prepared within the shortest time frame in history, and formed through the unprecedented union of four major grassroots movements, organizers and participants of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Global March to Gaza, the Sumud Convoy, and the Asian Sumud Nusantara.
This coalition brings together thousands of individuals from across the globe, including lawyers, doctors, nurses, journalists, parliamentarians, and human rights defenders.
“Together, we embark on a mission to deliver life-saving aid directly to the population of Gaza, and to challenge an unlawful blockade that constitutes one of the gravest crimes under international law,” Melanie Schweizer, a lawyer and member of the Steering Committee of the Global Sumud Flotilla, said.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition has, since 2006, organised ships to sail toward Gaza in an effort to break Israel’s illegal siege. Some vessels succeeded, others were intercepted by Israeli forces, and one in 2010 was attacked with lethal force, resulting in the killing of ten participants.
The Global March to Gaza mobilised in March 2025 and brought over 4,000 participants from across the world to Cairo to march to Gaza’s Rafah city.
Simultaneously, the Sumud Convoy gathered participants from Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia and organized buses to join the Global March. The march and convoy were violently obstructed, with hundreds detained by Egyptian authorities. The initiatives, however, proved that international civil society is ready to act en masse in solidarity with the people of Palestine.
This was cemented by the formation of the Asian Sumud Nusantara, which expanded the network even further, “demonstrating that resistance to genocide is not confined to one region but reaches around the world.”
“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic,” Schweizer said.
“The Global Sumud Flotilla is a peaceful and humanitarian mission. It carries not only food and medicine, but also the hope of millions: That humanity will prevail over indifference.”
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