If the Global Sumud Flotilla, and illegally by special forces of the Israeli Army, was the largest maritime mission that tried to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza to date, this time the task will be even greater. This Sunday a new mission of the Global Sumud Flotilla will set sail again from Barcelona, now converted into a kind of navy for peace; It will be the largest civilian maritime mission that will attempt to reach Palestine and “challenge Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza, deliver aid and confront the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people and the complicity that enables it”.
The new Global Sumud Flotilla will depart with a consolidated fleet of more than 70 boats with more than 1,000 participants from more than 70 countries“with the capacity to expand as conditions permit.” On this occasion, in addition, the different ships will be accompanied by two organizations that know the Mediterranean well, Open Arms and Greenpeace, which will deploy its emblematic ship Arctic Sunrise, an icebreaker that has carried out actions around the world.
“Genocide is still happening”explains to El HuffPost Valentina Carvajal, head of Peace and Disarmament at Greenpeace Spain, who will be on board the Arctic Sunrise during the first weeks of transit. The environmental organization has decided to join this flotilla to, above all, “offer maritime, technical and operational support.” “We have been working with the Global Sumud Flotilla for several months now on everything that has to do with maritime support, taking advantage of our 50 years of experience at sea: from navigation protocols, security or logistics,” he says.
That will mainly be the role of the famous ship, to join “from a place of support” but to “also denounce the illegal siege and the plot of complicity” with the genocide that, according to the United Nations, Israel is committing in Gaza. When asked if they fear that Israel could not only attack but intercept and hijack one of its most famous ships, Carvajal points out that They are very aware of “how Israel attacks humanitarian initiatives” and foresee “all kinds of scenarios”. In principle, and as agreed with the Global Sumud Flotilla organization, the Arctic Sunrise will approach up to 200 nautical miles from Gaza, from where “they will continue to provide support.”
At Open Arms, for their part, they have the experience of having been able to break the naval blockade imposed by Israel in 2024 for the first time in 20 years. The organization that specializes in maritime rescues carried out two humanitarian aid missions together with chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen, which, however, had to be interrupted after .
Once again, the flotilla highlights that Their action is not only peaceful but legal. “We have the right to establish a humanitarian corridor for a civilian population under siege,” the organization explains. Despite the conflict in the Middle East due to the wars started by Israel in Iran and Lebanon, they have no doubt that they must set sail, no matter what happens. “We set sail not despite war, escalations, threats and fragile ceasefires, but because of all of that. We set sail because Palestinian civil society has urged international solidarity movements to mobilize,” they point out.
This Sunday, in a press conference prior to departure, the members of the Steering Committee of the Global Sumud Flotilla wanted to make it clear that “this flotilla is not only about delivering aid.” “It is a direct civil intervention against genocide, siege, ecocide, forced hunger and the global systems that sustain them.. Today Barcelona became the threshold between duel and action. Families who have lost everything, doctors who have worked inside collapsed hospitals, organizers who have seen governments allow mass death, and movements rising on different continents have all come to the same conclusion: waiting costs Palestinian lives. “The flotilla now moves forward as part of a broader global escalation to confront siege, impunity, and the political systems that make both possible,” they said.
In addition to the maritime mission, this Sunday they launched We Rise“a synchronized international campaign designed to increase political, economic and social pressure by coordinated ground mobilizations as the fleet advances“. Among other things, they have advocated the closure of ports aimed at weapons supply chains, artistic and cultural interventions in public squares and escalations of boycott and divestment. Added to all this are also two land convoys through North Africa and Asia that will also try to break Israel’s illegal land siege.
