Activists announce new, bigger aid flotilla to set sail for Gaza in March 

Organisers of a Gaza-bound aid flotilla that Israel seized at sea last year say they are planning a new, larger mission next month.

The Global Sumud Flotilla announced Thursday that it will sail more than 100 boats carrying up 1,000 activists, including medics and war crimes investigators, to Gaza in March.

Meeting at the foundation of late South African ⁠leader Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg, the campaigners described the undertaking as the largest-ever, civilian-led mobilisation against Israel’s actions in Gaza.

“It is a cause … for those that want to rise and stand for justice and dignity for all,” said Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, who was among activists arrested by Israel during last year’s voyage.

The flotilla will be supported by a land convoy across nearby Arab countries, expected to attract thousands more backers, Mandela added.

Last October, Israel’s military intercepted some 40 boats from the Global Sumud Flotilla as they carried aid to blockaded Gaza, arresting more than 450 participants, including Mandela, Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg and European Parliament member Rima Hassan. Several detainees alleged physical and psychological abuse while in Israeli custody.

Israeli officials had denounced that flotilla and earlier smaller-scale efforts ‌to sail aid into Gaza as publicity stunts. Flotilla organisers said they were acting to break Israel’s “illegal” siege of the enclave and accused Israel’s seizure of their vessels of violating international maritime law.

Israel has heavily restricted supplies of aid since it launched a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza, causing famine-like conditions in the enclave, according to activists and humanitarians. Some aid has reached the enclave since a “ceasefire” started in October, but the UN says it falls far short of what is needed to meet urgent needs.

While the flotilla activists anticipate Israel will again try to stop their passage, they say international law is on their side, and their journey will bring attention to the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.

“We may not have reached Gaza physically [but] we have reached … the people in Gaza,” said one of the activists, Susan Abdallah. “They know that we care, that we will not stop at anything until we actually break the siege.”