Overview

• Roughly twenty vessels carrying about 500 people are set to depart from Barcelona on August 31 as part of a civilian effort to deliver aid and challenge Israel’s naval restrictions.
• Additional boats from Italian ports and Tunisia plan to rendezvous at sea, with organizers targeting a joint leg toward Gaza on September 4.
• Participants and supporters include Greta Thunberg and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau on board, with Susan Sarandon and actor Liam Cunningham backing the send-off at the port.
• Barcelona civic groups have provided housing, logistics and weekend events at the Moll de la Fusta, and Catalonia’s president Salvador Illa publicly welcomed the departure.
• Volunteers completed training for potential interception following June’s Israeli boarding of a prior flotilla, and organizers cite UN-linked data on mass casualties and hospital damage in Gaza to justify the mission.