Tunisia Activists Prepare to Join Global Sumud Flotilla Heading for Gaza

By Staff, Agencies

Volunteers and activists collect and pack aid, in preparation for the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla to join the Global Sumud Flotilla heading towards Gaza.

Organizers confirmed the revised departure date after ships with the Global Flotilla were forced to return to Barcelona due to strong winds, spending the night there before resuming their journey.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian activists from 44 countries are in Tunisia for safety training ahead of joining vessels that will rendezvous with ships which left Spain and Italy last Sunday, among them one carrying Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Portuguese MP Mariana Mortágua.

The combined flotilla aims to challenge "Israeli" naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, sailing with more than 45 ships loaded with medical supplies and food aid.

"I can confirm that there will be more than 45 ships, and the goal, of course, is to break the siege on Gaza and open a humanitarian corridor to Gaza, delivering the medical and food aid we are carrying," said Wael Nawara, a member of the Maghreb Sumud Flotilla.

In the days leading up to departure, organizers have been collecting donations of baby formula, diapers, and medical supplies.

The two-day training sessions in Tunisia focus on safety protocols and how to respond if confronted by the "Israeli" military.

Activists, including Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham, are on the flotilla of several dozen boats that is aiming to break "Israel's" naval blockade and deliver food and humanitarian supplies to the territory, which has been devastated by nearly two years of war.

"Israel" claims the naval blockade it imposed in 2007 is necessary to stop weapons allegedly being smuggled to the Hamas Palestinian group.

It has described other attempts to break it- including one that included Thunberg in June- as a propaganda stunt in support of Hamas.

"Israel" has in the past strongly denied that its actions in Gaza amount to genocide and says they are justified as self-defense.

It is fighting a case at the International Court of Justice in the Hague that accuses it of genocide.