Greater than 1,000 individuals gathered Sunday at a Tunisian port to welcome an assist boat from Barcelona carrying environmental activist Greta Thunberg and different pro-Palestinian campaigners in search of to interrupt Israel’s blockade of Gaza.
“Everyone knows why had been are right here,” stated Thunberg. “Simply throughout the water there’s a genocide occurring, a mass hunger by Israel’s homicide machine.”
European Parliament member Rima Hassan joined crowds at Sidi Bou Stated port to greet the International Sumud Flotilla.
“The Palestinian trigger will not be within the arms of governments immediately. It’s within the hearts of peoples in every single place,” stated Hassan.
She praised the “function that the individuals play immediately within the face of the cowardice of states that forestall any solidarity with the Palestinian individuals.”
Hassan didn’t say whether or not she would be part of the flotilla when it resumes its voyage for Gaza on Wednesday.
Brazilian activist Thiago Avila speaks to the group of pro-Palestinian activists that arrived to greet the International Sumud Flotilla at Sidi Bou Stated, Tunisia, September 7, 2025. (Yassine Mahjoub / AFP)
Organizers stated greater than 130 individuals from numerous international locations have registered to embark on boats from Tunis to hitch the flotilla.
The International Sumud Flotilla calls itself an impartial group with no affiliation to any authorities or political occasion. The flotilla departing from Tunis had already been delayed attributable to “technical and logistical causes,” its organizers stated.
The boats departed Barcelona greater than per week in the past however had been pressured again to the port attributable to poor climate, heading out again two days later.
The flotilla is slated to aim to reach in Gaza later this month, though it’s anticipated that will probably be intercepted by the Israeli Navy.
In June, Israel intercepted one other ship carrying Thunberg, Hassan and different activists, towed them to shore and deported them from the nation. And in July, 21 activists from 10 international locations had been intercepted as they tried to strategy Gaza in one other vessel, the Handala.
Israel has accused the activists of consideration in search of and carrying solely a symbolic quantity of assist that won’t make an impression on the starvation within the Gaza Strip. Help companies have stated that famine circumstances have reached components of Gaza, a cost denied by Israel, which says it’s boosting humanitarian deliveries to the Strip and dealing to make sure assist will not be diverted by Hamas.
