The, which mobilizes about 500 volunteers and 20 vessels, He has left from Barcelona at 15:35 this Sunday. The group, supported by personalities such as Greta Thunberg or also has the participation of figures from the world of cinema and culture, which have expressed support both in person and through social networks.
For example, Liam Cunningham, an Irish actor known for his role at Game of Thrones, has affirmed that the most important thing in the situation of Gaza is the people who inhabits it and He wanted to remember a Palestinian girl “murdered by Israel” a few days ago Through a video. The Irish comic and writer Tadhg Hickey has also spoken about it, who defended that civilians should not be in need of carrying out this type of actions if the Ireland government, together with other international governments, took the appropriate measures.
Meanwhile, the Catalan actor Eduard Fernández has assured that He has no “words to talk about Gaza” and He added that “every ship that goes to Gaza is a cry of dignity and a reminder that the sea should not be seen as a prison or prison.”
Saif Abukeshek, spokesman and Mission Coordinator, said the group acts within international legality and that “Whatever happens” They will continue trying to get to Gaza. “We do not enter Israeli waters or approach its borders. Our moral and ethical obligation is to persist until this tragedy ends,” he added. As the organizers defend, the largest scale of this flotilla, with more boats and greater media visibility, could make it difficult to repeat the outcome of previous interventions.
“A mission like this should not exist”
Greta Thunberg activist
For its part, activist Greta Thunberg, who is part of the Steering Committee, stressed that “a mission like this should not exist “ and that governments should be who act to defend international law. “It should be our governments who will act to defend international law and avoid war crimes. When failing, it corresponds to ordinary citizens to organize it,” added the young woman. In this sense, the organizers insist that the flotilla is independent, without affiliation to parties or governments.
Swedish activists Greta Thunberg (I) and German Yasemin Care (2D) together with the members of the Global Flotilla Sumud Thiago Avila (I) and Saif Abukeshek (d) attend the press conference organized by the Global Sumud flotilla within the organized events before the exit of the Global Sumud Flot this Sunday from Barcelona and destined for Gaza Palestinian people in which entities from 44 countries participate. EFE/ TONI ALBIR
“We carry more ships than in all the previous missions together”
The Fleeta de la Libertad was born in 2010 from the hand of various civil organizations of multiple corners of the world. Already in that first mission, a fleet departed from Türkiye with around 10,000 tons of help and several hundred crew members. The most remembered event was The death of nine Turkish crew During the night assault of Israeli forces to the Mavi Mámara boat, which occurred in international waters. In that year, the UN Human Rights Council described the Israeli action as “disproportionate”.
At present, the Global Sumud Flotilla continues to insist on the need to open a corridor that allows to deliver humanitarian aid and, at the same time, send a message of political pressure. “We really believe that we will break the blockade, we carry more ships than in all the previous missions together, ” He said one of the coordinators, Thiago Ávila, who explained that it is not only a boat mission, but a global movement.
The fleet, composed of boats from Europe and other continents, has started its tour this Sunday from Barcelona and Genoa, and since September 4 will do it from Tunisia, Greece and Sicily. It is planned that the ships meet in international waters to continue towards Gaza, with the participation of activists and volunteers from more than 44 countries.
In fact, as mentioned above, Italy has also shown its support for the flotilla, making an torch march in Genoa, where some 40,000 people accompanied the cause. There, the association Music for Peace has managed to raise more than 300 tons of humanitarian aid, which will be sent to Gaza in the next few days. In this sense, various Italian political parties have asked the Giorgia Meloni government to guarantee Italian citizens who are directed towards Gaza.
Spain will protect Spanish participants
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, has guaranteed that the Spanish Government will provide “All its diplomatic and consular protection” To the Spanish citizens who join the humanitarian flotilla that will start this Sunday from Barcelona to Gaza.
a RAC1carried out from Copenhagen during the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union, Albares recalled that Spain has already supported similar initiatives in the past And he assured that the current situation will not be different. Finally, he stressed that the ideal would be for humanitarian aid to access Gaza through “enabled land steps.”
