On 30 August, from Genova and other ports in Europe and Tunisia, the voyage of the Global Sumud Flotilla will begin — the largest civilian maritime mission ever attempted towards Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is about to set sail in the Mediterranean to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza. Between 30 August and the first days of September 2025, dozens of vessels will depart from several ports with the aim of reaching Palestinian territory and delivering aid to the local population, suffocated by a genocide that has now been ongoing for nearly two years.
The initiative was born from a global coalition of human rights movements, which includes the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which in recent months had already attempted a similar mission, before the Israeli army seized the vessel and its activists — among them Greta Thunberg. Now the time has come for an even more ambitious initiative in what promises to be the largest civilian maritime mission ever attempted towards Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is an international coalition founded in July 2025, formed by the union of several movements and solidarity initiatives in support of the Palestinian people. Among its promoters is the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international alliance of civil society organisations created with the aim of breaking the naval blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip, which over the years has organised several missions — some repressed in bloodshed by the Israeli army, as in 2010, others blocked in a violent manner, as last June. Among the other promoters are the Global movement to Gaza, the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, based in North Africa, and Sumud Nusantara, covering South-East Asia.
Over recent weeks, the Global Sumud Flotilla has gathered a great many pledges of support regarding vessels, personnel and humanitarian aid. Between 30 August and 4 September, dozens of small boats will set sail in two waves from Genova, Barcelona, Sicily and Tunisia in a coordinated action in full compliance with international law, sailing through international waters to the vicinity of the Palestinian coastline of the Gaza Strip. It will be the largest civilian maritime mission ever attempted towards Gaza.
The Global Sumud Flotilla is not a simple humanitarian operation. It is also, and above all, a political and moral act, as its promoters emphasise. Its manifesto, made public in July, is a document that denounces the silence of the international community, the complicity of Western governments and the criminalisation of the Palestinian people. "The Palestinian people do not need to be saved. They need their rights to be respected: the right to live, to be fed, to move, to be free with dignity," stressed Maria Elena Delia, the Italian spokesperson for the mission.
The mission's objective is to put an end to the Israeli naval siege, to condemn governments' complicity in the genocide ongoing in Gaza, to denounce the forced starvation and dehumanisation imposed by Israel on Palestinian territory, to act through nonviolent means and to assert respect for fundamental rights. The mission departs as the situation in the Gaza Strip grows increasingly dire. Since 7 October 2023, Israel has killed more than 62,000 people, and the UN has confirmed in recent days that a famine is underway. On 25 August, one of the most brutal attacks in recent weeks occurred, when Israel struck the Nasser hospital, killing healthcare workers, patients and also five journalists working for Associated Press, Reuters, Al Jazeera. The Israeli government has no intention of stopping the genocide and has announced its intention to occupy the entire Palestinian territory of Gaza.
