Largest Gaza-Bound Flotilla Departs from Tunisia and Italy
The first vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail Saturday from Tunisia and Italy toward the Gaza Strip, in what organizers described as the largest maritime mission yet aimed at challenging Israel’s blockade.
A video circulated by organizers showed one of the aid ships leaving Tunisia’s Bizerte Port, while a fleet of 18 boats departed from Sicily’s Augusta Port after a week of preparations. The Italian contingent is expected to merge with vessels leaving Tunisia and others that began their journey from Barcelona, with the entire convoy planning to gather in international waters next week.
Organizers said the flotilla will ultimately bring together nearly 50 boats carrying between 500 and 700 participants from more than 45 countries. Passengers include artists, activists, and lawmakers. Among them are Italian opposition legislator Arturo Scotto, European Parliament members Annalisa Corrado, Benedetta Scuderi, France’s Emma Fourreau, and Ireland’s Lynn Boylan, who chairs the Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Palestine.
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According to flotilla spokespeople, the convoy is transporting around 500 tons of humanitarian supplies. They said the effort is intended both to deliver aid and to draw attention to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. “The world is rising. We will continue to challenge Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and will not stop mobilizing until Palestine is free,” the group declared in a statement.
The scale of the initiative marks a departure from past attempts, which typically involved one or two ships that Israel intercepted before reaching the enclave. Organizers acknowledged the difficulty of breaking through, noting Israel maintains full control of Gaza’s coastline. Last June, a single ship attempting a similar voyage was stopped, and its crew detained before being repatriated.
The departure came just days after two of the flotilla’s boats were damaged in what organizers alleged were drone strikes in Tunisian waters, though other accounts attributed the incidents to fires on board. Despite the setbacks, flotilla organizers vowed to press ahead with their mission, calling it the most ambitious effort yet to create a humanitarian corridor by sea.
