Gaza aid flotilla, with Thunberg aboard, restarts after weather delay

A flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, set sail from Spain for the Gaza Strip for a second time on Monday, after its first departure was disrupted by bad weather.

Around 20 boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla departed from the Spanish city of Barcelona in the evening with around 300 pro-Palestinian activists from more than 40 countries on board, the news agency Europa Press and other Spanish media reported.

The flotilla first set sail on Sunday, but was forced to return to port due to stormy weather.

“Due to unsafe weather conditions, we conducted a sea trial and then returned to port to allow the storm to pass,” the organizers posted on Instagram.

The Global Sumud Flotilla aims to breach the Israeli sea blockade of the Gaza coast to deliver humanitarian aid to the population. “Sumud” means steadfastness in Arabic.

Its organizers say that it is the largest action of its kind to date.

Thunberg in a return trip to Gaza

Thunberg participated in a similar voyage aboard the Madleen vessel earlier this year.

Israeli troops boarded the Madleen 200 kilometres off the coast on June 9 and took it to Ashdod, an Israeli port to the north of the Gaza Strip. Thunberg and other activists were then deported.

Israel has in the past thwarted a number of attempts to breach its sea blockade. An attempt by an Italian vessel in July was also prevented.

On its website, the Global Sumud Flotilla says its goal along with partner organizations is: “to break the illegal siege on Gaza by sea, open a humanitarian corridor, and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people.”

Dozens of boats will converge on Gaza, it says.