The flotilla is now sailing towards Gaza

BarcelonaAmidst applause and shouts of "Free, free Palestine", the boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla set sail this Sunday at four in the afternoon from the Muelle de la Madera in Barcelona to head for Gaza. The objective of the humanitarian mission is twofold: on the one hand, to bring humanitarian aid to the more than one million Gazans who are struggling to survive due to the Israeli blockade and, denounced by the Israeli blockade, atrocities committed by Benjamin Netanyahu.

On board the thirty boats that have left Barcelona are activists, journalists and, among the well-known faces, the former mayor of Barcelona, ​​​​Ada Colau, the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, and the actor of Game of Thrones Liam Cunningham. Barcelona and Gaza, separated by more than 3,800 km of Mediterranean Sea, are joining forces in this mission to bring water, food, and medicine to the enclave, as well as a message of hope for the population that has suffered the destruction of war and hunger for 22 months.

A thousand people gathered at the Moll de la Fusta to bid farewell to the Flotilla. Among those attending were politicians from all parties of the parliamentary left: from Bildu to Podemos, including ERC, the PSC, and Comuns, who all agreed to demand decisive action against Benjamin Netanyahu. The first to appear was the city's former mayor, Ada Colau, who reiterated that "Israel is a genocidal and criminal state" before boarding one of the boats, as she did. Finally, there was no sign of the American actress Susan Sarandon or the politician and Nelson Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, whose names had been heard as possible members of the Flotilla.

Symbolically, the activists ate watermelon, a fruit that has become a symbol of Palestinian resistance because it shares the colors green, white, and black, which are the colors of the Palestinian flag. "I am terrified to see how people continue their lives watching the genocide live on their phones," lamented Thunberg, who will be making her second attempt to reach Gaza, after Israel intercepted the humanitarian boat she was traveling on earlier this summer.

The Swedish activist, who at 16 became the face of the fight against climate change, has stated that if the humanitarian mission fails to reach the Gaza Strip, they will not consider it a failure. "Our plan B will be to try again with more boats and more people," she explained at the collective appearance, as the last ships of the Flotilla entered the port amid applause from the assembled audience. "If Gaza doesn't surrender, neither can we," stated Colau, who welcomed the choice of the city as one of the departure points for the international mission: "Barcelona never fails." The former mayor also praised the initiative for being possible thanks to the strength of civil society, which mobilizes against the inaction of "cowardly institutions" that avoid taking a stand against the genocide. Therefore, she called on governments and institutions around the world to follow in the footsteps of the Catalan capital, break relations with Israel and impose sanctions on it.

At the Moll de la Fusta, the scene of musical performances over the past two days, the thirty flotilla boats are already docked, forming the first contingent. Twenty more will be added in the coming days, ships departing from ports in Italy, Greece, and Tunisia. In total, according to the organizers, there will be around fifty vessels with 300 people on board. The journey to the coast of Gaza is estimated to last between seven and eight days, in what will be the "largest mission in history," aimed at breaking the Israeli blockade. In previous attempts, the boats were intercepted by Israel, which did not hesitate to attack the vessels. The worst incident occurred in 2010, when ten members of the mission were killed in an attack by Israeli military forces in international waters.

Meanwhile, in the last 24 hours, the Israeli army has killed at least 105 people in Gaza, according to Sunday's count by local medical sources, while Israeli troops continue their raid on the Zeitun neighborhood, in the enclave's capital, where homes and other buildings were already bombed. On Saturday, at least 85 people were killed, including 43 in Gaza City, according to data from Al Shifa Hospital and the Sheikh Radwan Clinic. Their deaths add to the twenty-plus reported this morning.