Greta Thunberg announces a new flotilla to Gaza that will depart from Spain with many boats.

Barcelona"We are embarking again to break the blockade." With this opening line, Swedish activist Greta Thunberg announced that a new initiative will be launched from Spain on August 31st. flotilla to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza StripShe did so with a video posted on her Instagram featuring dozens of other activists and some well-known faces, such as American actress Susan Sarandon and English actor Liam Cunningham.

"On August 31st we will leave Spain with dozens of boats, and dozens more will join us on September 4th from Tunisia and other countries. We will all sail together to break the illegal siege of Gaza and demand an end to the genocide, and finally open a corridor," a multitude of activists chain together their sentences.

They call the new attempt the Global Sumud Flotilla, and ask people to "join them with demonstrations" around the world. The activists say they expect "coordinated mobilizations in 44 countries around the world." "It will be the largest international effort since Israel launched its siege of the Gaza Strip 18 years ago," they say.

Thunberg was one of the members of the Freedom Flotilla who attempted to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza but was intercepted on June 8 by the Israeli army. Of the twelve activists traveling aboard the Madleen, a Freedom Flotilla ship intended to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza and deliver a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the enclave, Four (including Thunberg) agreed to be deported after being intercepted.

The remaining activists refused to sign their voluntary deportation orders and were arrested and brought before a court to ratify the expulsion orders, since under Israeli law, when a person receives deportation orders, they are detained for 72 hours or more before being released. The activists' lawyers said that Israeli authorities "intercepted and forcibly seized" the boat and "detained the volunteers, violating their will and fundamental rights in accordance with international law."

Another Freedom Flotilla boat, the Handala, was also intercepted by the Israeli military on July 27. One of the Handala crew members, Franco-Swedish MEP Emma Fourreau, wrote to X at the time that the boat had been boarded by the Israeli military 115 kilometers off the coast of Gaza and that the crew threw their phones into the water as a safety precaution. "The Handala was carrying a shipment of critical humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza, including baby formula, diapers, food, and medicine. The entire cargo was non-military, civilian, intended for direct distribution to a population facing deliberate starvation and medical overwhelm under the blockade."