ANKARA

The Global Sumud aid flotilla plans to set sail again for war-torn Gaza from Barcelona on March 29 with broader international participation, according to an announcement on Thursday.

“The departure will be at the initial historic departure from Barcelona, followed by Tunisia, Italy, and other Mediterranean ports, and we will sail this time at the date of March, the 29th,” Global Sumud activist Sumeyra Akdeniz Ordu told a livestreamed news conference in Johannesburg, South Africa.

“We will sail with, this time, thousands of participants, including more than a thousand doctors, nurses, health professionals … We will have medical professionals with us. We will have eco-builders with us. We will have war crimes investigators with us, which is the difference between the previous mission,” she added.

Referring to the US president’s efforts to solve the conflict in the Middle East, the activist stressed that this initiative is “an alternative to the Trump plan,” since it includes the Palestinians and lets them decide for themselves “how they want to rebuild their own homeland.”

New land convoy in preparation for Gaza

Another activist announced that, in parallel to the sea mission, “a new big movement regarding the land, the new Sumud land convoy” will be carried out.

He explained that this new humanitarian convoy will include medical aid, food, and all other aid materials that Gazans need.

Professionals such as doctors and engineers will join this land mission that will depart from North Africa, going all through Egypt until it reaches the Rafah border crossing.

A second land convoy will depart South Asia, and details will be announced soon, he added.

The activist explained that despite being supposedly open, the Rafah crossing is the scene of an unbelievable “suffering” due to the manipulations of the Israeli regime, which makes it very hard for the people to enter and exit.

“So these human-powered corridors are our responsibility, and we should really take our responsibility as people from all around the world,” he emphasized.

Call on Turkish people for support

“We know that the Turkish people love Palestine, love the Palestinians, love Gaza. And we expect a lot, a lot from all the Turkish people… So we call the Turkish people to mobilize,” one of the activists urged.

In mid-January, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said his government would be directly involved in the next Sumud mission to the Gaza Strip.

The first Global Sumud sea mission started in mid-2025, and in October, Israeli naval forces attacked and seized more than 40 boats that were part of the humanitarian aid flotilla.

Tel Aviv detained more than 450 activists who were on board. Many told hair-raising stories of abuse at the hands of their Israeli captors.

Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza, home to nearly 2.4 million, for nearly 18 years and tightened the siege in March when it closed border crossings and blocked food and medicine deliveries, pushing the enclave into famine.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza began Oct. 8, 2023, killing nearly 72,000 Palestinians and wounding over 171,000 others, while destroying about 90% of Gaza’s infrastructure.