A new activist flotilla aiming for Gaza will depart Barcelona on April 12, involving over 80 boats and 1,000 participants.
BARCELONA: A coalition of pro-Palestinian activists announced a new maritime mission to Gaza, set to depart from this Spanish port city on April 12.
The Global Sumud Flotilla’s latest effort follows a previous attempt last year that was intercepted by Israeli forces.
Organisers stated the mission will involve more than 80 boats and over 1,000 international participants.
They described the action as a “principled, nonviolent intervention” aimed at defending human dignity and demanding humanitarian access.
“The cost of inaction is too high to bear,” the group said in a statement. It added that land-based movements in multiple countries would join the maritime action to increase pressure.
Gaza remains under a fragile ceasefire agreed last October, following two years of devastating conflict.
The war was sparked by the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, which Israeli figures say killed 1,221 people, mostly civilians.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign killed more than 70,000 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. Both sides have repeatedly accused each other of violating the current ceasefire.
The flotilla’s first journey last year drew worldwide attention when Israel intercepted the boats and arrested activists as they approached the blockaded territory. That mission was launched amid severe shortages of food, water, and medicine in Gaza.
