After a night’s storm drenched Tunisia’s coast in heavy rain, and lapped the unpredictable Mediterranean Sea into a flurry of swells, the sun finally peaked through the broken clouds, rays shown down along a fleet of over 50 ships moored in a port in Tunis. The ships are collectively known as the Global Sumud Flotilla. They carry a cargo of food and humanitarian aid, and a crew of activists and volunteers from 44 countries who are making a daring attempt to try and break Israel’s siege of Gaza, and deliver the aid to the starving, desperate population still surviving in the smoldering ruins of Gaza. 

The ships first left Barcelona, Spain on August 31 where a crowd of thousands gathered in the city’s bustling harbor to send the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) off. The ships were delayed by a storm but in six days made it to their planned stop in Tunis to rendezvous with more ships and activists. An unknown number of ships are expected to eventually join from Italy, Greece, Libya, and Egypt. 

Ahmed Abdulkarim, a 35 year old Kuwaiti civil engineer from the U.S., was one of hundreds who joined the flotilla. He said he recently moved out of the U.S. because he felt it unethical to live in a country knowing that his taxes were going to pay for a genocide.  

“We have been watching a livestreamed genocide for almost two years now.  We protested and we boycotted, we raised awareness about what’s going on in Palestine but unfortunately no concrete actions have been taken by international governments. So it’s really up to us regular citizens of the world to come together and start a movement to help our brothers and sisters in Palestine,” he told Unicorn Riot while awaiting departure in Tunis.

The GSF is the latest attempt of activists this year to try and reach Gaza in a coordinated mass action. In June, a caravan of 1,500 people drove across North Africa, thousands marched in Egypt in the Global March to Gaza, and even Palestinians and Israelis marched together across Israel to try and break the siege. All attempts were stopped, at times violently, by the authorities. 

Global March to Gaza Violently Repressed by Egyptian Authorities

There were 37 previous humanitarian missions by sea since 2008 that attempted to break the siege of Gaza. Only five made it to shore. Most missions were intercepted or attacked by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). In 2010, the IDF attacked one such flotilla and killed 9 activists, including 19 year old U.S.-Turkish citizen Fulkan Dogan who was shot five times by the IDF in the face, and once in the back of his head. 

Authorities also raided three ships that sailed separately earlier this year, and detained the volunteers, some of whom were beaten while in jail, or banned from entering Israel in the future. 

The threat of violence from the Israelis hangs over the activists. Two of the GSF ships were reportedly bombed by drones on the 8th and 9th of September while docked in Tunis. GSF social media accounts shared video of what appears to be a missile strike by a drone on one of the ships. “These repeat attacks come during intensified Israeli aggression on Palestinians in Gaza, and are an orchestrated attempt to distract and derail our mission,” the GSF said in a statement released on September 9.

Israeli Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir gave a plan to Israeli political and military leaders to effectively treat the flotilla activists as terrorists. He described the “illegal” GSF action as “an attempt to support the Hamas terrorist organization and trample Israeli sovereignty.” If the plan is implemented, activists will be sent to the notorious Ketziot and Damon prisons where Palestinian detainees are routinely tortured, and the ships will be repurposed by the IDF for military use. 

“We will not be stopped by the baseless threats of Israeli officials. Preventing humanitarian aid from entering Gaza would be the illegal act here, and would add to the long list of Israeli war crimes. The world does not support war criminals and we will never forgive and never forget those who are standing on the wrong side of history,” said Swedish activist Greta Thunberg in a video released by GSF. 

Israel Bombs Residential Towers, Unleashes ‘Gates of Hell’ on Gaza City

Professor of Law at York University in Canada Heidi Matthews stated that the “Flotilla volunteers are not trying to enter Israeli territory. They are trying to enter occupied Palestinian territory for the purposes of delivering humanitarian aid in the context of a deliberate manmade famine pursued through a policy of starvation as a method of warfare. If any of the participants end up in Israeli territory, it will be as a result of their forced abduction by the State of Israel.” 

The prospect of escalated violence against the GSF is something flotilla activist Ahmed Abdulkarim has thought about. “I am not worried about what the Zionists would do … I am more worried about us as human beings not doing anything about forced starvation and genocide,” he said.

Activists have taken comfort from the statements of solidarity with their mission from around the world. Italian union activists stated they would shut down European ports if the IDF attacks the GSF, or if contact is lost. Politicians from around the world, including a dozen on the flotilla, also signed a statement in support of the GSF. 

Activists aboard the ships want the world to maintain their focus however, on the plight of Palestinians. 

Since the GSF left Barcelona, Israel has intensified its bombing campaign in Gaza, and given orders for the mass evacuation of Gaza City. 

Israel has closed all crossings into Gaza and weaponized food and aid distribution in their attempts to forcibly displace civilians and ethnically cleanse the Gaza Strip. As of September 18, at least 435 Palestinians have starved to death, including 147 children. 

The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that 65,062 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed since the start of the genocide, including 19,424 children. Israel authorities and settlers have also increased attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. 

In a further deterioration in regional stability, and scuttling recent efforts to negotiate a settlement to end the war and release the hostages, Israel bombed Doha, Qatar in an attempted assasination of Hamas negotiators. Qatar’s emir Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani said the act constituted a form of “state terrorism” conducted by a “rogue player in this region.” He implored other states to react to Israel’s heightened aggression.

Despite the constant, very real possibility of further violent attacks from Israel, the ships continue toward Gaza. As Ahmed Abdulkarim prepared to embark from Tunis, he said, “I am here to tell the people of Palestine that we have not forgotten about you and we are ready to put our lives on hold… and test our patience and strength to the last minute just to reach Palestine and feed at least one starving child. That would make me very happy.”

cover image by Davide Barbieri

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