Activists set to sail from Spain for Gaza on Sunday have called on governments to pressure Israel to let their flotilla through the naval blockade on the enclave.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest to date, is expected to include dozens of boats carrying aid and hundreds of people from 44 countries. Sumud means “perseverance” in Arabic.
Among the activists set to take part in the flotilla are Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was detained and then deported by Israel after the IDF intercepted a separate Gaza-bound boat she joined in June. Also set to participate in the flotilla is left-wing Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortagua.
Israel has scuppered numerous attempts by international activists to penetrate the nearly 20-year-long blockade, including in 2010, when nine Turkish citizens were killed in a clash with IDF naval commandos who intercepted the Mavi Marmara flotilla.
The new flotilla comes after a UN hunger monitor said last week that parts of Gaza were suffering from famine. Israel, which stopped the flow of aid into Gaza for nearly three months until mid-May, has rejected the report as a “modern blood libel” and accused Hamas of looting aid deliveries.
Saif Abukeshek, one of the organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla, said the ball was in the politicians’ court to put pressure on Israel to let the activists through this time.
“They need to act to defend human rights and to guarantee a safe passage for this flotilla,” said Abukeshek, who is a Palestinian resident of Spain, in an interview with Reuters in Barcelona on Thursday.
Israel has dismissed previous activist flotillas, including the British-flagged yacht carrying Thunberg in June, as a propaganda stunt in support of Hamas.
Israel imposed the naval blockade on Gaza in 2007, when Hamas took control of the Strip two years after Israel withdrew from it. According to Israel, the blockade was necessary to prevent Hamas from smuggling arms by sea.
The blockade has remained in place through conflicts, including the current war, which began when Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel on October 7, 2023, to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has since killed almost 63,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The toll, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed over 22,000 combatants in battle as of August and another 1,600 terrorists inside Israel during the October 7 onslaught.