A flotilla of ships set sail from Barcelona on Sunday, aiming to deliver humanitarian relief to Gaza Strip in what organisers describe as the largest maritime mission yet against Israel’s 18-year blockade of the Palestinian territory.
This comes as Israel announced its military offensive has intensified, and food and basic supplies deliveries have been limited in northern Gaza. The United Nations and other international humanitarian organisations have declared a famine earlier in August, with half a million people facing catastrophic hunger, reports AP/UNB.
The initiative, known as the Global Sumud Flotilla, is transporting food, water and medicine. Activists on board are calling for secure passage and the creation of a permanent humanitarian sea route. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the nearly 23-month war has claimed more than 63,000 lives, with at least 332 deaths linked to malnutrition, among them 124 children.
Around 20 boats from 44 nations embarked from Spain and are expected to be joined by ships leaving Italian and Tunisian ports in the coming days. Organisers said the convoy could number around 70 vessels for the last stretch, flotilla spokesperson Saif Abukeshek told Spanish public television after the departure, with arrival in Gaza estimated for September 14 or 15.
“The story here is about Palestine. The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive,” Swedish activist Greta Thunberg told a news conference.
The Barcelona pier was crowded with supporters who were there to see off the ships, many draped in Palestinian keffiyehs and waving flags, chanting “Free Palestine!” and “Boycott Israel!”.
Some of the humanitarian aid has already left Genoa, Italy, and will merge with the flotilla on its route east. Thunberg is among the high-profile participants, joined by hundreds of campaigners, journalists, and politicians including Barcelona’s former mayor Ada Colau.
This is Thunberg’s second effort to reach Gaza by sea in 2025. She was deported by Israel in June when the vessel Madleen, carrying her and 11 others, was intercepted. “It has been very clear that Israel has been continuously violating international law by either attacking, unlawfully intercepting the boats in international waters, and continuously preventing the humanitarian aid from coming in,” she said on Saturday.
The latest voyage is the fourth organised this year. Earlier attempts included the Conscience in May, targeted by drones, and the Handala in July, which was seized along with 21 activists and journalists. Its cargo of food, medicine and infant formula was confiscated.
In a news conference in Barcelona, actor Liam Cunningham played a video of a Palestinian child, Fatima, singing about her own funeral. She died four days ago. “What sort of world have we slid into where children are making their own funeral arrangements?” Cunningham asked.
Meanwhile, an Israeli official confirmed Saturday that aid into northern Gaza will soon be halted or slowed as the military pushes deeper into Gaza City, which was recently declared a combat zone.
