Aid flotilla for Gaza departs Barcelona after weather delay

MADRID, Spain

A flotilla carrying activists and humanitarian aid to Gaza departed Barcelona’s port late Monday after bad weather forced its return a day earlier, organizers said.

“Now the weather forecast has improved, the first group of boats has now set sail, carrying not only their crews but the spirit of all who stood at the dock and everyone rising together across the world,” the Global Sumud Flotilla said in a post on the US social media company Instagram’s platform.

“More boats will join in the days ahead coming from all across the Mediterranean. The message from Barcelona was clear: the world has had enough, and Palestine is not alone,” it added.

Around 200 activists, politicians and artists from 44 countries initially set sail Sunday from Barcelona after a large rally in support of their mission.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, Spanish actor Eduardo Fernandez and former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau are among those taking part in the voyage.

“Every ship sailing towards Gaza is a cry for human dignity. This mission is not a threat – it is an act of humanity against barbarity,” said Fernandez on Sunday. “Silence is complicity. And silence kills as much as bombs do.”

Organizers say the flotilla will be joined by more ships departing from Italy and Tunisia, bringing the total to more than 500 people and around 60 vessels.

It hopes to reach Gaza by mid-September.

Thunberg said that everything possible must be tried to end the Gaza blockade.

“Every day, more people are waking up and realizing the scale of Israel’s massacres and genocide,” she said Sunday. “Today’s news is not that this flotilla is setting out, but rather how the world can remain silent and how politicians can betray and abandon the Palestinian people.”

Thunberg participated in another flotilla mission earlier this year. That ship was intercepted and seized by Israel, which eventually deported its 12-member crew.

Israel’s full blockade of the Gaza Strip, in place since early March, has created catastrophic conditions for the enclave’s 2.4 million residents, leading to famine, widespread disease and the collapse of essential services.

Israel has killed over 63,500 Palestinians in its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its war on the enclave.