Starting August 31, dozens of ships from the “Global Sumud Flotilla” will set sail in an effort to break the deadly blockade on Gaza. This exemplary mission, born of indignation and the refusal to remain silent in the face of the ongoing horror in Palestine, far exceeds previous ones in its scale: delegations from 44 different countries will participate, on several dozen boats. The first part of the flotilla will leave Spain on August 31, with another dozen boats planning to set sail from Tunisia on September 4. This initiative will include the Trotskyist Fraction, the International to which Left Voice belongs.
This vast action was made possible by the coalition of several organizations denouncing the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Among them are the “Maghreb Sumud Flotilla,” the Malaysian organization “Sumud Nusantara,” and the Freedom Flotilla which had previously chartered the Madleen and the Handala. These two symbolic expeditions, which set sail in June and July of last year, had helped to put Gaza back at the center of global media attention, while the famine was worsening and as Israel was initiating the first phase of operation “Chariots of Gideon,” a plan to conquer the entire Gaza Strip. These two maritime attempts were then accompanied by a land initiative, the “Global March to Gaza,” in which several thousand demonstrators headed to Gaza via the Sinai desert of Egypt. That mobilization was harshly repressed by the Al-Sisi regime. The organizers of this event, under the new name “Global Movement to Gaza,” are also joining the “Global Sumud Flotilla.”
The initiative is also being joined by various movement figures, starting with Greta Thunberg, who had previously attempted to reach Gaza on board the Madleen, but was arrested by the IDF on the way. It also includes various actors, such as the American Susan Sarandon and the Swede Gustaf Skarsgård, and elected officials and activists, such as the French MP Emma Fourreau and the Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila. The Trotskyist Fraction (FT) is also supporting and participating in this new expedition, notably with the presence of Bruno Gilga, spokesperson for the Brazilian delegation. Bruno Gilga is active in Left Voice’s sister organization in Brazil, the Movimento Revolucionário de Trabalhadores (MRT), and he had already participated in the “Global March to Gaza,” alongside other Trotskyist Fraction activists from the Spanish state and Argentina.
The expedition, which hopes to both create a humanitarian corridor to break the blockade of Gaza and break the silence on the horrors taking place there, comes at a time of unprecedented acceleration of the genocide. According to the latest IPC analysis, famine now affects more than 500,000 Gazans and deaths caused by hunger are multiplying. Adding to this catastrophic humanitarian situation is an unprecedented intensification of the IDF’s deadly operations: in continuation of the offensive initiated in May 2025, Netanyahu and the security cabinet approved a plan for the total occupation of the Strip in early August. Operation “Chariots of Gideon II” led to the recall of 60,000 reservists and notably involves an IDF offensive on Gaza City, which is already having disastrous consequences for its inhabitants, including deadly bombings, destruction of entire neighborhoods, and the forced displacement of thousands of residents who still live there. While the city’s population is estimated at several hundred thousand people, the Israeli army announced this Wednesday that the evacuation of the city was “inevitable.” This criminal operation reaches a new level in the colonization of Gaza, by carrying out ethnic cleansing of the territories in preparation for its permanent occupation and annexation.
In addition to the attack on Gaza City, there are the continuous Israeli bombardments that spare nothing and no one in the enclave: last week, an Israeli strike hit the Nasser hospital in Khan Younis, killing more than twenty people, including five journalists. In the West Bank, meanwhile, the occupation is also taking a leap forward, with the recent approval of the vast E1 settlement plan, and the recent increase in raids on foreign currency exchanges, even in the heart of the territory (in Ramallah and Hebron) which is supposed to be controlled by the Palestinian Authority,
The “Global Sumud Flotilla” therefore sets sail at a crucial moment, and it is more urgent than ever to put a stop to Israel’s genocidal violence and occupation. By taking to the sea to try to break the blockade of Gaza, these hundreds of activists are demonstrating courage and determination that should be an example to anyone outraged by the ongoing genocide. This maritime expedition, however, is not without danger: the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish humanitarian aid ship leading a small flotilla, was attacked in 2010 by the Israeli army, resulting in the death of nine activists on board.
Like the global response to the Madleen last June, this new flotilla should inspire workers around the world. As Bruno Gilga emphasized in an interview with Esquerda Diário:
In the face of this horror, the resistance of the Palestinian people remains even stronger: it inspires me deeply and gives courage to all those who, with us, are organizing this complex mission across the Mediterranean to end the illegal blockade of Gaza. For us, activists of the Trotskyist Fraction, expeditions like this strengthen international solidarity with Palestine. Crossing the Mediterranean alongside other activists is an honor. I call on everyone to support and relay this initiative, so that every worker rises up against this colonial genocide and mobilizes, because the mobilization of workers is the only way to put an end to the limitless barbarity of Zionism.
The flotilla’s name comes from the Arabic term sumud, which refers to the perseverance and resilience of Palestinians who have been fighting for more than seventy years against Israeli colonization and refuse to give up and abandon their land. This expedition can play a decisive political role and serve as a spark to rekindle mobilizations in support of Palestine throughout the world. A massive struggle by workers and youth, in Arab countries as well as in imperialist countries, is the only way to put a definitive end to the ongoing horror in Palestine. Without it, the genocide of the Palestinian people will continue its sinister course, which seems to have no limits.