Overview

• Eighteen sailing boats left the port of Augusta, Sicily, this afternoon following weather-related delays.
• The Sicilian group will join ten vessels waiting in Bizerte, Tunisia, and six boats coming from Greece for a joint passage in international waters.
• Organizers frame the Global Sumud Flotilla as a civilian mission to deliver aid to Gaza and to challenge Israel’s maritime blockade.
• The NGO vessel Life Support operated by Emergency has departed to provide medical and logistical support to participating boats.
• Earlier in the week two flotilla boats anchored in Tunisian waters were struck by small drones, causing minor damage and no injuries, according to organizers.