Global Sumud Flotilla heads to Gaza amid fears of Israeli intervention

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The ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla are north of Libya and west of Crete, approaching the last leg of their voyage, with two or three days of sailing before reaching the waters in front of the Gaza Strip.

This will be crunch time for the civilian-led convoy carrying humanitarian aid for Palestinians, as the Israeli Navy would likely prevent vessels from going through. 

“Israel will not allow ships to enter a combat zone,” said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, claiming the right to maintain a naval blockade around Gaza, which it considers a legitimate exercise of the right of self-defence, since it was designed to stop weapons smuggling by Hamas.

Israeli Foreign Ministry director general Eden Bar-Tal added that the Flotilla “is not a humanitarian mission but a political provocation”.

By contrast, the Global Sumud Flotilla’s activists believe the blockade is unjustified and provokes victims and suffering among Gaza’s civilians. They want to “break the siege” and create a permanent humanitarian corridor into the Strip.

The crew is also prepared to risk interception by Israeli forces, as Socialist Italian MEP Annalisa Corrado told Euronews, speaking from the vessel “Karma”.

“As with previous [similar] missions, we expect that, at some point, there’ll be an interception by Israeli forces who may order us to stop and may arrest us. This is something we take into account. Of course, no one wants to be a kamikaze or a martyr,” Corrado said.

“What we want is to increase the political and diplomatic pressure around this mission, especially because the objective is Gaza, not the mission itself. The idea is that once we get there, the pressure on the Israeli government — not on the Flotilla — will be such that we can help restore a humanitarian corridor,” she added.

The Flotilla was attacked by drones while sailing in international waters a week ago. The attack caused several explosions, seriously damaged some of the boats, and forced the fleet to pause in Crete. The crew of the unusable vessels was relocated to other ships, while a few people decided to disembark. 

“The day after, the force of these explosions was deemed strong enough to dismast a boat. So, just imagine being out at sea at night, with the waves and without the mast. If such an attack had struck just a few dozen centimeters differently, it could really have been a far more serious incident,” Corrado recalled.

After the incident, the Italian government proposed that the Flotilla leave the humanitarian aid in Cyprus, for it to be transferred to the Gaza Strip under the supervision of the Catholic Patriarchate of Jerusalem and under the direction of Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, a respected figure among pro-Palestine activists.

The Flotilla’s board rejected the idea, despite maintaining an open dialogue with the Patriarchate. According to Corrado, “the Italian government is not a credible interlocutor”, and the proposal coming from Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was wrong in both manner and timing.

“The Italian government is not recognising the State of Palestine; it is blocking the suspension of the EU’s association agreements with Israel. It has not imposed a total arms embargo [on Israel], it has not demanded a ceasefire, and the restoration of aid deliveries. So it’s clear that such a move, if not very clumsy, could certainly appear to be sabotage,” Corrado said.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recently said that Itlay would recognise Palestine, subject to two conditions: release of the hostages taken by Hamas during its 7 October 2023 attacks and exclusion of Hamas from any involvement in a future Palestinian government.

But Annalisa Corrado said that Meloni “is just overtrying to stop the Flotilla, instead of trying to stop Israel. This is unbelievable”. 

The Socialist MEP welcomed Italian President Sergio Mattarella’s call to find a compromise solution to protect the crew’s safety, however, and praised Italy’s Defence Minister Guido Crosetto’s attention to the issue.

An Italian and a Spanish military ship are currently following the humanitarian convoy, but neither vessels are authorised to enter Gaza’s waters or to face Israel’s navy, in case of an intervention against the Flotilla.

On Sunday night, a charity’s support vessel evacuated one of the boats due to a technical issue, relocating the crew to other ships.

On Monday, Red Crescent with the help of Turkish authorities evacuated activists from another vessel, which had broken down and began taking on water, according to Turkish news agency Anadolu.