The Global Sumud Flotilla recently set sail from Barcelona to break the siege and relieve the people of Gaza. Over 300 Palestine solidarity activists on the Flotilla, coming from over forty-four countries, will gather in over 50 boats in an attempt to end the Zionist blockade and bring aid to the people of Palestine, who are enduring a genocide at the hands of the Zionist occupation. Those activists on board come from all walks of life and are united in their belief that the Zionist blockade of Gaza has to end.
The Freedom Flotilla is carrying medical supplies, flour, rice, baby formula, nappies, period products, water desalination kits, crutches and children’s prosthetics. The Zionist blockade of Gaza has always resulted in a lack of these supplies but the recent phase of genocide by the Zionist entity has resulted in massive restrictions in access to these goods than ever before.
The boats will travel across the Mediterranean to Italy, Greece and Tunisia in two waves, setting sail as a result of the Western Governments support of the blockade and ongoing genocide. The first wave will go from Barcelona and the second from Tunis. Barcelona was chosen as a symbolic spot for the Flotilla to sail from as a result the city cutting all institutional ties with the Zionist entity last year when the Catalonian region recognised the genocide of the Palestinian people. The trip is expected to take seven or eight nights before it reaches the besieged and blockaded Gaza.
In previous years, there have been several attempts to deliver aid to counter the Zionist blockade. The Flotilla movement launched 31 boats between 2008 and 2016, five of which reached Gaza despite heavy Zionist restrictions. Since 2010, all flotillas attempting to break the Gaza blockade have been intercepted or attacked by Israel in international waters. With the worsening of the genocide the Flotilla was launched three times in the last four months. In June this year, the Flotilla was intercepted 185 kilometres from Gaza by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF). The next month the Flotilla was launched again in July before the IOF stormed the boats attacking activists and forcing them to throw their phones in the sea.
Given the genocidal nature of the Zionist entity it is expected that they will attack the ships. Reports are already coming in of drones monitoring the flotilla as it traverses international waters. Those on board will no doubt be conscious of the fact that in 2010, Israeli Special Forces stormed a flotilla with the same intentions, and massacred at least nine people, injuring more than 50 others.
