Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, one of the leaders of the humanitarian flotilla that tried to bring aid to Gaza in September, assured after his expulsion that “the movement will continue as long as Palestine does not manage its own borders.” Two months later, the organization, whose official name is Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), announced that in spring 2026 it would return to Mediterranean waters towards the Franja. In a statement released this month on social media, they described the new mission as “the largest civilian action coordinated by sea in Palestine until its closure.” According to the note, more than a hundred boats loaded with humanitarian aid and more than 3,000 participants from more than 100 countries will take part in the initiative. In addition, they include the idea of providing “a sustained and specialized civilian presence” in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In declarations to EL COUNTRY, Ávila reports with pride that he will return to the steering committee of the flotilla and admits that the responsibility is “aún mayor”, because this time “on the ground we seek to break the harassment, but also to disembark in Gaza and, who can, to carry out all the solidarity missions in the areas of health, construction or communication. Neither Trump nor Netanyahu: it will be the Palestinian village, with international solidarity, which will rebuild Gaza”.
The previous flotilla heading towards Franja was intercepted by Israel in the early hours of October 1-2. More than 40 boats were attacked by Israeli military personnel in international waters and 473 crew members were taken first to the port of Ashdod in southern Israel and then from there to Ketziot prison in the Negev desert. They were later deported to their respective countries. Activists arrested “illegally,” according to the complaint, described abusive treatment, verbal and even physical violence.
The operation announced this month was even more ambitious, even if the last attempt to reach the occupied Palestinian coast was violently aborted. The Flotilla has defined this new initiative as a “decisive expansion”, which, according to its calculations and the figures it has published for boats and participants, means twice as much capacity and wealth as the previous one. “We will leave from several Mediterranean ports, some of which are the most paralyzed and others closest to Gaza. The announcement of the cities will be made within a few months, but Barcelona is a point of reference as a safe haven for our missions,” says Ávila when asked about the route of the boats.
Marc Formosa, a Swiss citizen who participated in the humanitarian mission as captain of one of the boats, is delighted with this new initiative and hopes that he would like to participate “in another way”. “I want to convince the people around me to cheer up. I believe that the message is more powerful and lasts longer if people who have not arrived before get involved,” he added. Formosa, who since his deportation to Lausanne has collaborated with the Palestinian organization Waves of Freedom, believes he can be useful in training new sailors or in transporting boats to the port of departure. “But if there are no more brothers or captains, I don’t know when I will get back on board,” he said.
“Civil protection in the armed forces”
The organizers of the Global Sumud Flotilla even aspire to establish an “unarmed civil protection presence”. Participants in the initiative, the statement said, “will be highly qualified to work with Palestinian communities, helping to deter violence, document (human rights) violations, and strengthen local protection and reporting mechanisms, in the face of the Israeli regime’s continued attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
The organization has not yet released the list of participants, whose names should be announced in the coming weeks. But the Flotilla has already demonstrated that it comes from “all countries” and that its professional profiles would be very varied. In the flotilla intercepted on October 2, people from 44 different countries participated, including activist Greta Thunberg and ex-alcaldesa of Barcelona, Ada Colau.
The organization admits through a Brazilian activist that “the logistics will be very complex” and has been working for months to avoid the organizational errors made during the previous flotilla. However, I believe the mission served to show that the Palestinian people “are not alone” and added that “the global prison generated by protests against our illegal incarceration in a dungeon in the Negev desert greatly increased the prison and was one of the factors that led Trump to impose a very limited and insufficient shooting deal for Netanyahu.”
For some citizens, the consequences of this humanitarian mission on the ground were physical or psychological, but also economic. The 18 Swiss citizens who participated received an invoice for consular assistance during their incarceration. “I asked for 300 francs (320 euros), but my brother Stéphane asked me for 750 (804 euros). We wrote a letter to our lawyers to avoid paying, but we still have not received a response,” he said by telephone from Formosa..
The statement said that for this “coordinated, non-violent civil action,” more than 1,000 health sector workers will be on board “buckets equipped with life-saving medications and equipment” who will seek to coordinate with local and field health personnel. “The mission aims to strengthen emergency care and stabilize a health system devastated by continued harassment and bombing,” the Sumud Global Flotilla referred to in its text.
After Israel intercepted between October 1 and 2 more than 40 boats from the first October initiative, a week later the Israeli marina intercepted and confiscated a second flotilla, called Libertad-Mille Madleensformed new ships.
During this second flotilla, in October, Israeli authorities arrested around 145 activists who were on board and followed the same pattern as the activists in the previous initiative. The arrested flotilla members – including some journalists who accompanied them – were sent to prison and deported to their home countries in the weeks following their arrest in international waters by the Israeli marina.
In June, Israel boarded, also in international waters, a first flotilla, which was traveling aboard the boat Madleenwith 12 activists on board, who were also arrested and deported to their country.
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