Global Sumud Flotilla, which aims to break the naval block imposed by Israel on the Gaza strip of Gaza has finally started from the port of Barcelona, the international humanitarian mission and let it enter food, water and medicines. In Gaza these basic necessities have been missing for months now, and the population has been trying to resist a humanly unsustainable situation. The term “Sumud“In fact, it was not chosen at random: in Arabic it means” resilience “, and therefore the ability to resist and keep hard, also endure the worst adversities.
This company, which started on August 31, 2025, is really noteworthy, because it is the largest independent initiative in the world ever: launched by hundreds of citizens from 44 countries, Flotilla is made up of dozens and dozens of boats, and a second departure from Tunis is scheduled for Thursday 4 September. Some small boats also started from Genoa and others from various Sicilian ports, and then reunited with the rest of the fleet in the Mediterranean.
From whom the idea of the Global Sumund Flotilla was born, because just now and what is the goal
The idea of creating the Global Sumud Flotilla has emerged in recent months as a collective response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the blocking of humanitarian and naval aid imposed by Israel the last months. The initiative is the result of the union of several movements of national and international activists, and among the four international founding movements there are:
- Freedom Flotilla Coalition: note to the chronicles for its June 2025 mission aboard the “Madleen”, to bring help to Gaza. On board there was also the famous activist Greta Thunberg. The ship was blocked by Israeli forces in international waters last June and activists were arrested.
- Global Movement to Gaza: mainly known as “Global March to Gaza“, he promoted marches and civil shares to raise public awareness of the situation in Gaza.
- Maghreb Sumud Flotilla: solidarity coalition from North Africa, also engaged in various help missions in Gaza.
- Sumud Nusantara: initiative of Southeast Asia, in particular from Malaysia, which organized aid convoys for Gaza.
The initiative, which is a non -violent civil resistance act, was born to try to put a piece to the serious situation of insulation and famine of the strip and to try to end the maritime siege imposed by Israel. The union makes strength, and activists on board will all try to open a great humanitarian corridor.
All boats will transport food, medicines and other essential assets for the Gazawi, in the hope of alleviating, even if little, their suffering. At the same time, all this is done to send a message of solidarity and closeness to the Palestinian people, who for almost two years has been trying to survive a situation of hell without any institution having seriously tried to stop or boycott Israel. In this sense, the Global Sumud Flotilla unmasks the empty rhetoric of many European governments and the institutions that have so far launched bland appeals but no action (economic and geopolitical) aimed at stopping the actions of the government of Tel Aviv.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, however, does not just want to shake governments and institutions, but also raise public awareness: the initiative aims to attract the attention of everyone, from individual citizens to the great institutions, on the situation of the strip, in the hope that the start of a series of concrete actions that put a point on a tragedy of enormous size.
The Sumud fleet: who are the participants and where the boats started from
After the appeals, the mobilizations of the real and virtual squares, and the many national and local initiatives, on August 31, the first part of the Global Sumud Flotilla started from the port of Barcelona with the larger boats (each boat hosts about 25 people). But Sumud Flotilla is mainly composed of small and medium-sized boats (12-16 meters in length), which stand without problems in the open sea.
On board there are doctors, activists, lawyers, journalists and artists of 44 different flags. A second group will sail on Thursday 4 September from Tunis, and then the two fleets will meet in the Mediterranean to head together towards Gaza. To them, the Italian boats will also join, all equipped with video cameras and connection to Starlink, Spacex’s satellite communication network. The crews were composed in such a way as to ensure that there is always an activist, a journalist or a political personality who can guarantee an adequate level of protection, and there are always at least two people with nautical and mechanical skills to heal any technical problems.
The first Italian boats started yesterday from Genoa, and were purchased on the second -hand market also thanks to the fund collections in which many Italian citizens participated. The wave of solidarity moved quickly: in less than two weeks, about 250 tons of food for Gaza were collected in the Ligurian capital by local groups and residents. The rest of the aid will be kept in the holds of the boats of Catania, departing next Thursday. In all, from Italy there will start 25, i.e. half of the total boats (which are about 50, precisely), and the largest of it can accommodate 10 people on board. The arrival of the entire fleet on the Gaza coast is expected in mid -September.
The protocol upon arrival and how the people on board were selected
The Global Sumud Flotilla – “Global” as global, “Sumud” as resistance (even better, resilience), and “flotilla”, that is, a small fleet. But so small is not, because this is the largest civil maritime mission of the international organized so far. Not everyone knows, however, that before her there had been an initiative of this type, in 2010, with the Freedom Flotilla who had tried a first time to break the naval blockade imposed on Gaza also at the time. On that occasion, the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara was affordable by the Israeli Navy in international waters, causing the death of ten activists.
The requests for participation for the freshly game mission were many, but the places on the boats were limited. That’s why several talks were held to test the motivation and preparation of the participating people, who followed courses to face all the possible adversities they will meet. In particular, all the people on board are required not to respond to the provocations of the IDF, and to always respect the laws of international law. If it will not be possible to continue, the ships will stop where they are, but they will not return behind until the situation is unlocked, at the cost of being blocked in international waters. The goal, as the Italian coordinator Maria Elena Delia said, is to create a precedent who leads to a definitive opening of a humanitarian corridor, possibly managed by the UN.
Among the prominent personalities on board, there is also the activist Greta Thunberg, who as anticipated, had already tried last June to break the block on board the Madleen, but without success. Now, thanks to the great international attention on the matter, hope is very high. All that remains is to wait for the fleet updates and hope that the blockage will be broken definitively, attracting the attention and concrete actions of all Western governments.
Update at 11.57 on September 1, 2025: due to the strong winds (over 30 knots), the boats had to pay momentarily to the nearest ports, waiting to be able to start again.
