Dozens of vessels are again en route to Gaza in an attempt to break the illegal sea blockade imposed by the Israeli occupation, as part of a new global flotilla coalition. “The flotilla departs with a clear set of objectives,” stated the Global Sumud Flotilla, one of the networks taking part in the mission. “To challenge Israel’s illegal blockade, advance the opening of a permanent humanitarian corridor, and intensify coordinated pressure on governments and corporations complicit in its enforcement.”

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Global Sumud Flotilla ships are sailing with vessels from the Freedom Flotilla and Thousand Madleens to Gaza, as well as other ships determined to contribute to the stated goals. After departures from Spain and France earlier this month, on April 26, the fleet left the port of Augusta in Sicily – with more ships expected to sail from Greece and Turkey and join along the way, according to activists aboard.

Hundreds of people from across the globe have volunteered to sail with the flotilla: health workers, journalists, engineers and activists, among others. Among them are some attempting to break the blockade for the first time, including Margaret Connolly, sister of Irish President Catherine Connolly. “Our flotilla sails to deliver hope,” Margaret Connolly, a physician, told The Sligo Champion ahead of departure. “We are sailing to Gaza to break the 18-year Israeli naval blockade, deliver urgent humanitarian aid, and demonstrate international solidarity with Palestinians facing famine and ongoing conflict.”

The networks participating in the flotilla have long emphasized the initiative’s aim is to act where governments fail. This is particularly relevant in European countries, where various administrations remain complicit in the genocide in Gaza by maintaining relations – economic, cultural, academic, and other – with occupation authorities. The fact that so many Europeans have joined this global flotilla reiterates demands to end the genocide and occupation of Palestine raised by the public through hundreds of demonstrations, boycott initiatives, and direct action since October 2023.

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“The flotilla is not an end in itself or an isolated action, but a part of a broader, historically situated movement of resistance and struggle for the liberation of the oppressed,” Morana Miljanović, who is steering the ship Shireen towards the coast of Gaza, told Croatian media outlet Radnička prava.

“The flotilla is the daughter of centuries-old movements of resistance to systems of domination, repression, extraction, and oppression,” she told Peoples Dispatch. “It is part of organized actions and one of the paths, or methods, of struggle, of galvanizing consciousness, and of collective action.”

Source: Free Palestine Initiative – Croatia

“It is also part of the revolutionary processes of learning, unlearning, and transforming interpersonal relationships and structural choices among us. It is complex, composed of people and organizations with many goals, motivations, and experiences. It seeks to connect as effectively as possible with many other collectives and paths of struggle, especially in stopping the production and circulation of weapons of genocide: that is still in an early phase.”

Miljanović is a returning member of the flotilla, having been the captain of Shireen during the last campaign in 2025. At that time, over 400 crew members were attacked and kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces: many spent days imprisoned, later reporting widespread abuse. While Shireen’s mission last time was providing legal support and did not participate in the final leg to Gaza’s coast, this time it is going to do so.

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With the situation in the Mediterranean increasingly militarized and Israel growing more aggressive in its attacks across West Asia, some flotilla participants have not only warned of possible drone assaults, but also expressed concerns about potential artillery attacks targeting the flotilla directly. To minimize the likelihood of these scenarios as much as possible, organizers and participants emphasize the importance of following the flotilla’s progress and mobilizing if attacks occur. “On land, the most important part of the job is to speak and organize at every possible level, to make those efforts visible, linking them to the visibility of the flotilla,” Miljanović told Radnička prava.

Significant support is coming from local Palestine solidarity networks and movements, including activist groups and trade unions. Among other things, the flotilla’s sailing will overlap with a new round of coordinated Mediterranean-wide actions by dockworkers to resist arms trade – showing again that Israel’s genocide in Palestine could not continue without Western governments maintaining business as usual.

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