The first boats of the Sumud Flotilla set sail from Barcelona today. Organizers call it the largest civilian maritime mission since 2007 to challenge Israel’s blockade on Gaza. A second group will depart from Tunisia and other ports in four days.
“The largest civilian mission since 2007 sets sail to challenge Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza,” the Sumud Flotilla’s official account posted on X.
According to the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, the Sumud Flotilla aims to deliver humanitarian aid and draw global attention to the worsening humanitarian crisis faced by Palestinians in Gaza.
The committee stated that dozens of boats will converge in the heart of the Mediterranean before sailing together toward the besieged enclave, carrying medical supplies, humanitarian aid, and prominent public figures known for their advocacy of justice and Palestinian rights.
While preparing to cast off this morning, organizers of the Sumud Flotilla stressed that international solidarity movements are doing what governments have so far failed to do.
Hüseyin Durmaz, coordinator of the Turkish delegation participating in the Sumud Flotilla, told Anadolu Agency that the convoy includes dozens of ships and thousands of activists from 44 countries. “Nearly 500,000 people applied to join, an unprecedented turnout,” he said, adding that participants were selected by the International Committee through national committees in each country.
Durmaz warned that Israel is likely to intercept the Sumud Flotilla with force and abuse, stating that Israel “will try to provoke the activists and accuse them of terrorism.” For this reason, he said, participants underwent psychological and media training to prepare for such confrontations, especially given the power of Israel’s disinformation machine.
Yesterday, the International Committee urged global audiences to support the Sumud Flotilla, describing it as a continuation and inspiration of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s efforts since 2010—from the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara to more recent attempts to break the blockade in 2025, including the ships Conscience, Madleen, and Handala.
“At a time when Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are enduring the ugliest crimes of the century—ongoing genocide, engineered starvation used as a weapon of death, and a suffocating blockade that affects every aspect of life and deprives Gazans of the most basic means of survival—breaking the siege becomes one of the foremost priorities for the free people of the world and for all solidarity movements, especially in light of the ongoing international inaction and complicity,” the committee declared on X.
“The Freedom Flotilla is not merely a set of boats carrying symbolic aid,” it added, “but rather a global act of protest and a strong humanitarian message against the silence of the international community in the face of Israeli crimes. It affirms that the will of free peoples is stronger than policies of genocide and starvation, and that every ship setting sail carries with it a cry of hope for besieged Gaza and a global voice demanding the lifting of the blockade and the immediate end to injustice.”
Zaher Birawi, head of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, echoed that message. “Every ship in the Sumud Flotilla carries a clear message to the world: the will of the people cannot be besieged, and the voice of freedom will find its way forward. This is not just a voyage; it is a humanitarian act of resistance against occupation, an act that exposes its crimes and shatters the walls of silence, complicity, and death,” he said.
This movement is part of a coordinated initiative led by three international organizations representing activists from more than 44 countries. These groups met in Tunisia last month and announced the formation of the Sumud Flotilla as one of their joint actions.
The Sumud Flotilla is a collaborative effort of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Global Movement to Gaza, the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, and the Malaysian group Sumud Nusantara.
The Freedom Flotilla was among the earliest global initiatives to support Gaza. It was formed in 2010 by an international coalition of organizations seeking to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza, which has been in place since 2007.
Its roots trace back to Turkish volunteers who, in 1992, founded the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation to assist victims of the Bosnian war, later expanding their operations to the Middle East and Africa.
In 2010, the Turkish foundation spearheaded the formation of the Freedom Flotilla, bringing together six international NGOs including the Free Gaza Movement and the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza.
Since then, the Freedom Flotilla has launched six solidarity missions, most notably the Mavi Marmara expedition in 2010, during which Israeli occupation forces attacked the ship, killing 10 and injuring dozens of solidarity activists.
In May of this year, Israeli drones attacked the Conscience ship near Malta as it sailed toward Gaza.
In June, the coalition announced that Israeli occupation forces had intercepted the ship Madleen, which had departed Sicily on June 1 with aid for Gaza, and detained the activists on board before deporting them. The same fate befell the ship Handala.
