Greta Thunberg mentioned she and a Palestinian activist group plan to sail a brand new flotilla loaded with humanitarian assist to Gaza, within the newest high-profile try to interrupt the Israeli blockade on the Strip.
Two different makes an attempt by activists to ship assist by ship to Gaza, in June and July, had been blocked by Israel. Troops boarded their vessels and detained the activists earlier than expelling them.
“On August thirty first we’re launching the largest try ever to interrupt the unlawful Israeli siege over Gaza with dozens of boats crusing from Spain,” the Swedish anti-Israel campaigner wrote on Instagram late Sunday.
“We’ll meet dozens extra on September 4th crusing from Tunisia and different ports,” she mentioned.
The group will mobilize activists from 44 international locations for the initiative dubbed “World Sumud Flotilla,” which may also embrace simultaneous demonstrations. “Sumud,” which means “steadfastness” in Arabic, is a Palestinian worth of defying and resisting Israel.
Humanitarian activists, medical doctors and artists — together with actors Susan Sarandon of the US, Gustaf Skarsgard of Sweden and Liam Cunningham of Eire — are due to participate.
Greta Thunberg has joined the steering committee of the World Sumud Flotilla, which organizers say will launch the largest-ever try to interrupt Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
Beginning August 31, dozens of boats will sail from Spain to affix others departing September 4 from… https://t.co/y9N4M6UNBd pic.twitter.com/gqKxPGnZgU
— Drop Web site (@DropSiteNews) August 10, 2025
The precise variety of ships crusing to Gaza this time was not specified.
The World Sumud Flotilla describes itself on its web site as an “unbiased” group not affiliated with any authorities or political celebration.
Thunberg was amongst 12 activists on board the ship Madleen, which tried to interrupt the blockade in June. The vessel was seized by Israeli forces and the activists had been deported.
Weeks later, a further boat, the Handala, tried to do the identical and was additionally intercepted and seized by Israel in July. The activists on board had been additionally deported.
This {photograph} exhibits a view of the Freedom Flotilla ship Handala because it departs for Gaza, the place it goals to interrupt the maritime blockade, at a port in Syracuse, Sicily, southern Italy, on July 13, 2025. (Giovanni Isolino/AFP)
Previous makes an attempt to interrupt the blockade have additionally failed, most notably the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010, which noticed Israeli commandos board a Turkish-led flotilla sure for Gaza. The violence that ensued when these aboard the ship attacked the troopers resulted within the deaths of 10 activists and left a soldier badly wounded, sparking worldwide condemnation and a extreme diplomatic rift between Israel and Turkey.
Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized energy from rival Palestinian forces in 2007 in a violent coup. Israel says it’s essential to restrict Hamas’s capacity to smuggle in arms with which to assault the Jewish state. Critics of the blockade say it quantities to collective punishment of Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Over 60,000 Palestinians have been killed because the begin of the struggle towards the Hamas terror group that guidelines the Strip, based on the Hamas-run Gaza well being ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
The struggle started with a Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel wherein terrorists killed some 1,200 folks and took 251 hostages, a lot of whom are nonetheless held in Gaza.
