Gaza, Global Sumud Flotilla attempts to break the siege to bring humanitarian aid

Brussels – Amidst the inaction of governments around the world towards Israel, it is the turn of civil society to mobilise and try to stop the atrocities committed by Tel Aviv in the Gaza Strip. At the end of the month, dozens of boats will set sail to the coastal exclave, in an attempt to break the naval blockade and get the humanitarian aid that the civilian population desperately needs, but which the Jewish state continues to refuse to let through. 

Next 31 August, dozens of boats and ships from 44 countries will set sail to reach the shores of Gaza. Some will depart from Spain, while others will leave their moorings on 4 September from Tunisia. It is the Global Sumud Flotilla, a transnational movement born from the union of three previous initiatives—the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Global Movement for Gaza, and the Maghreb Sumud Convoy—to break the total siege with which Israel encircles the Strip by land, sea, and air and deliver vital humanitarian aid to the civilian population, now on the verge of collapse. 

The global call for solidarity with the Palestinian people launched by the association is being answered by dozens of men and women from the worlds of politics, activism, culture, and music who are using their platforms to spread the initiative’s humanitarian message, as well as thousands of citizens from all corners of the world, including doctors, journalists, and lawyers. “Each boat represents a community and the refusal to remain silent in the face of genocide,” write the promoters of the international coalition.

Several Italian public figures have also decided to put their faces to the task and raise their voices against the war crimes perpetrated by Tel Aviv, with the aim of keeping media attention focused on the initiative: from Alessandro Gassman to Claudio Santamaria, from Alessandro Barbero to Zerocalcare. Internationally known faces such as Greta Thunberg, Mark Ruffalo, Susan Sarandon, Liam Cunningham and many others. 

Also at the Venice Film Festival, several Italian artists wrote an open letter asking the festival to take a stand against the ongoing genocide. Among the signatories were prominent names such as Carolina Crescentini, Serena Dandini, Fiorella Mannoia, Gabriele Muccino, Alba and Alice Rohrwacher, Pietro Sermonti, Claudio Santamaria, Toni Servillo, and Marco Bellocchio. 

The word “sumud” in Arabic means “resilience“. A peaceful, non-violent resistance, resorting to civil disobedience—in which one can take part not only through direct participation on board a vessel, but in many ways also “remotely”—to rebel against one of the most heinous and abominable crimes of contemporary times. In the wake of other collective initiatives set up in the past few weeks, such as the trip of the Madleen vessel, intercepted by the Jewish State off the coast of Gaza, in international waters (a fate that also befell the Handala, while the Conscience was attacked by Israeli drones).

And in the name of a sense of humanity that apparently is not shared by the world’s governments: starting with the European ones that so love to portray themselves as defenders of law and rights, but which nevertheless can’t even agree on an essentially symbolic measure such as the partial suspension of Horizon+ funds for Tel Aviv. In some countries, governments
went into crisis simply over contemplating the potential recognition of the State of Palestine as a topic of political discussion. 

Palestinian state that, in fact, may soon no longer exist, wiped off the map forever. On the one hand, the ecatombe in the Strip seems to know no end. The IDF operations continue in Gaza City while Palestinian civilians are murdered when they try to collect the food distributed sparingly by the Tel Aviv authorities (who hire “influencers” to spread their propaganda and blame the UN). 

For more than 22 months, the government of Benjamin Netanyahu (on whose head hangs an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court) has been deliberately exterminating the population through a combination of a violent military campaign—branded as genocide even by Israeli NGOs—and an artificially created famine to starve the more than 2 million civilians still remaining in the area, as certified by the UN.

 The Tel Aviv executive seems intent on permanently reoccupying the exclave, 20 years after withdrawing from the area.

This morning, an Israeli bombardment at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis killed at least 20 people, including five journalists, using the so-called double tap technique: a first attack is followed by a second one against the same target, to maximise damage by hitting the rescue teams when they arrive on the scene. A barbaric method, also used by Russia in Ukraine: in that context, Western governments rightly rage to denounce its inhumanity. In this, however, their silence is deafening.