BARCELONA – A flotilla of aid ships bound for Gaza departed from Barcelona’s port on Monday, with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg joining dozens of international human rights campaigners on the mission.
The flotilla aims to break through Israeli restrictions and deliver humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave, where a famine-like situation persists due to Israel’s blockade since October 7, 2023.
Thousands of supporters gathered at Barcelona’s harbor to see the ships off, many waving Palestinian flags and chanting slogans such as “Free Palestine” and “This is not war, this is genocide.”
Speaking to reporters before departure, Thunberg said the mission represented a challenge to “extreme injustice and a failed global system” that has been unable to uphold international law.
The flotilla, comprising dozens of vessels, includes human rights activists from across the world.
Organizers said world leaders had failed to pressure Israel to allow aid into Gaza, where severe food shortages have already claimed lives.
Steering Committee member Yasemin Acar said additional supplies and volunteers would join from Greece, Italy and Tunisia. She noted that in Genoa, Italy, civil society groups collected 250 metric tons of food aid, part of which has already been loaded onto ships.
Other vessels have been sent to Catania, Sicily, from where they are scheduled to sail to Gaza on September 4.
Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian activist and member of the flotilla’s administration, said “We are not the heroes, we are not the story — the people of Gaza are the story.”
Participants also include volunteers from Argentina, Brazil, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Poland, the United States and other countries.
Among them is Luna Valentina, a 24-year-old from Colombia, who married a Palestinian refugee before being deported from her country and now resides in Jordan.
This is not Thunberg’s first attempt to reach Gaza.
In June, she and several companions were arrested by Israeli forces after their aid ship was seized before entering the territory.
The Gaza Strip has been under a full blockade since October 7, 2023, with Israel cutting off most external aid.
Daily Israeli bombardments and gunfire have killed dozens of Palestinians while food shortages have worsened.
The Gaza’s Health Ministry said that more than 63,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel’s military started barbaric attacks, with hundreds of thousands more injured and displaced.
