A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, left the port of Barcelona on Sunday to try to "break the illegal siege of Gaza", organisers said. Previous attempts by activists to deliver aid to the enclave by ship have failed, but a French left-wing MEP onboard hopes this larger fleet has a greater chance of success.
Dozens of vessels set off from the Spanish port city with hundreds of people aboard, including delegations from some 44 countries.
The operation will take humanitarian aid, food, water and medicine to Gaza as Israel steps up its offensive in Gaza City.
The aim is to "open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people", said the Global Sumud Flotilla. Sumud is the Arabic term for "resilience".
The group defines itself as an independent organisation which has no affiliation to any government or political party.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened in recent weeks.
The United Nations declared a state of famine in the territory this month, warning that 500,000 people face "catastrophic" conditions. Israel rejected the accusation as "a lie".
Also aboard were actors Susan Sarandon, Liam Cunningham, European lawmakers and public figures including former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau.
The convoy will be joined by other ships from ports in Italy, Greece, and Tunisia in the coming days as it makes its way through the Mediterranean to Gaza, organisers said.
It is expected to arrive at the coastal enclave in mid-September.
"The story here is about Palestine," Thunberg said at a press conference in Barcelona. "The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive."
Thunberg, a member of the flotilla's steering committee, told AFP the goal was to open up a humanitarian corridor to break an "illegal" and "inhuman" blockade of Gaza.
Gaza aid flotilla 'should not have to exist' says Thunberg
Largest solidarity mission in history
Activists will also stage simultaneous demonstrations and other protests in 44 countries "in solidarity with the Palestinian people", Thunberg wrote on Instagram.
"This will be the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and more boats than all previous attempts combined," Brazilian activist Thiago Avila told journalists in Barcelona last week.
"We understand that this is a legal mission under international law," Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortagua, who will join the mission, told journalists in Lisbon last week.
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Previous attempts
Israel has already blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July.
In June, 12 activists on board the sailboat Madleen, from France, Germany, Brazil, Turkey, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands, were intercepted by Israeli forces 185 kilometres west of Gaza.
Its passengers, who included Thunberg, were detained and eventually expelled.
In July, 21 activists from 10 countries were intercepted as they tried to approach Gaza in another vessel, the Handala.
Israel sends military to block Gaza-bound aid boat carrying activists
Among them was Emma Fourreau, an MEP with the hard-left France Unbowed party. She told RFI she was more hopeful this time.
"You can see that the scale has changed, that the balance of power is totally different. Maybe we can get some boats through... to break this blockade."
Activists are calling for their countries to protect the flottilla.
The Spanish government says it will "deploy all of its diplomatic and consular protection to protect our citizens" sailing with the flotilla, the country's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said Saturday.
Madrid last year recognised Palestine as an independent state.
Israel launched its massive offensive in Gaza following the 7 October attack by Hamas in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages. At least 63,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war since then, mostly civilians, according to the territory's Hamas-run health ministry.
(with AFP)
