Madrid – SABA:
The “Global Resilience Fleet” announced on Monday that its first mission will depart on August 31 from Spanish ports, in an international civilian effort to break the Israeli naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip — a blockade that has caused one of the worst humanitarian disasters in modern times.
According to Palestine Online, the initiative includes representatives from 44 countries and is the result of a collaboration between four solidarity movements: the Maghreb Resilience Fleet, the Global Movement to Gaza, the East Asian Initiative, and the Freedom Flotilla. These groups have joined forces under one umbrella to attempt to open a safe humanitarian maritime corridor for Palestinians in Gaza amid a total closure of land crossings and a deepening famine.
Haifa Al-Mansouri, a fleet member, stated during a press conference held in Tunis that the move is “an unprecedented civilian grassroots effort in the history of global solidarity, aiming to challenge the blockade and occupation through dozens of boats and ships departing from several ports around the world.” She added that the second mission is scheduled to depart from Tunisia on September 4.
Seif Abu Khashk, another fleet member, explained that more than 6,000 international activists have registered to participate so far. Participants will undergo logistical and humanitarian training at departure ports, along with awareness events and solidarity camps.
This announcement comes weeks after Israeli naval forces intercepted the ship Handhala in July, stopping it about 70 miles off the coast — repeating scenarios similar to the interception of the Mavi Marmara, Al-Dameer, and other vessels that Tel Aviv blocked in previous years.
Amid government inaction and a sluggish international response, the Global Resilience Fleet aims to mobilize public opinion and pressure the international community to force Israel to lift the blockade and halt the ongoing genocide — which, with American support, has already resulted in over 210,000 Palestinians killed or injured, most of them women and children, along with thousands missing and hundreds of thousands displaced.
Palestinians in Gaza are enduring an unprecedented wave of hunger following Israel’s closure of all border crossings in early March and the imposition of severe restrictions on the entry of food, aid, fuel, and medicine. Over time, all food supplies have been depleted, shops have gone empty, and finding a loaf of bread has become nearly impossible. What little remains is priced exorbitantly — turning “death by starvation” into one of the deadliest causes of death in the besieged Strip.

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