Fleet member Haifaa Al-Mansouri said during a press conference at the headquarters of the Tunisian General Labour Union in Tunis that "representatives from 44 countries met in Tunisia in recent days as part of preparations for participation in this project."
Al-Mansouri pointed out that "the four initiatives that united to break the naval blockade of Gaza met in Tunisia. These initiatives are: the Maghreb Steadfastness Flotilla, the Global Movement for Gaza, the East Asian Initiative, and the Freedom Flotilla."
She continued: "We have come today for a common goal: to break the illegal (Israeli) blockade on Gaza, to try to open a maritime humanitarian corridor, and to end the ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people."
Regarding the date, Al-Mansouri said : “Late this summer, dozens of boats, large and small, will set sail from various ports around the world in the first coordinated, simultaneous, and joint civilian flotilla in history towards Gaza,” stressing that “the first delegation of the flotilla will set sail on August 31 from the ports of Spain, and will be joined by a second delegation from the ports of Tunisia on September 4.”
For his part, Saif Abu Kishk, a member of the same flotilla, said, "More than 6,000 activists have so far registered on the Global Resilience Flotilla's website to participate," stressing that "participants will undergo training at the ports from which they will depart, and there will be simultaneous activities and camping operations in the same locations."
Abu Kishk stressed that this is "a new attempt to pressure governments to break the blockade on Gaza with dozens of ships and thousands of participants."
On July 26, Israeli naval forces stormed the "Handala" ship, which was carrying international activists on its way to Gaza. They seized the ship and took it to the port of Ashdod.
The Hanthala had reached 70 miles from Gaza when it was intercepted by the Israeli occupation forces. This exceeded the distances traveled by previous ships, such as the Mavi Marmara, which was 72 miles away before being intercepted by Israel in 2010, the Madeleine, which reached 110 miles, and the Al-Dameer, which was 1,050 miles away, according to the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza.
Since the genocide began on October 7, 2023, Israel has been simultaneously committing a starvation crime against the Palestinians of Gaza. On March 2, it tightened its blockade by closing all crossings to humanitarian, relief, and medical aid, causing famine to spread and reaching "catastrophic" levels.
The US-backed genocide left more than 210,000 Palestinians dead or wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 9,000 missing, in addition to hundreds of thousands of displaced persons and a famine that claimed the lives of many.
