bakgrund
Global Sumud Flotilla
Wikipedia (en)
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF; Arabic: أسطول الصمود العالمي, romanized: Usṭūl aṣ-Ṣumūd al-ʿĀlamī), sometimes referred to as the Global Freedom Flotilla (أسطول الحرية العالمي, Usṭūl al-Ḥurriyya al-ʿĀlamī), is an international, civil society-led maritime initiative launched in mid-2025, aiming to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip. It is named from ṣumūd, Arabic for 'steadfastness' or 'resilience'. The initiative emerged in July 2025, organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Global Movement to Gaza, and Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, among others, during the Gaza war. The flotilla comprises over 50 vessels with thousands of participants from more than 44 countries. Some attempts to break the Israeli blockade were successful before 2010, but since then ships have been intercepted or attacked by Israeli forces, most recently in June and July, with another vessel attacked by drones in May 2025.
The flotilla began to set sail late August 2025 with delegations and convoys departing from Malaysia, Genoa, and Barcelona, followed by Catania, Syros, and Tunis early September. Some convoys initially faced temporary stoppages and delayed departures. The Spanish contingent returned to port due to high winds and the Malaysian convoy was delayed due to a significant storm. On 3 September, the Italian convoy reached Sicily as it awaits for the Catania convoy to arrive, and Tunisian vessels began converging on Tunis. On 7 September, part of the Spanish convoy arrived in northern Tunisia, where in the early hours of 9 September, a fire broke out on one of the main vessels. Based on video footage analysis, an incendiary had been dropped onto the vessel, with likely involvement from a drone, based on expert analysis. A second incendiary attack was reported the following night.
The initiative has received support from some over a dozen foreign ministers, Italian politicians and political parties, MPs in Spain and Portugal, the President of Colombia Gustavo Petro, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese. In contrast, Israeli minister of national security Itamar Ben-Gvir has claimed that participants should be imprisoned as terrorists and the Israeli Navy has conducted preparatory maritime drills. The EU Commission has stated that they do not support aid flotillas to Gaza.
