An aid flotilla of dozens of boats that had set sail for Gaza on Sunday carrying a symbolic amount of aid and pro-Palestinian activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, has returned to port in Barcelona due to stormy weather, organizers said on Monday.
"We conducted a sea trial and then returned to port to allow the storm to pass. This meant delaying our departure to avoid risking complications with the smaller boats," the Global Sumud Flotilla Mission said in a statement, adding winds had been up to around 35 mph (56 kph).
The organizers did not say when they planned to resume the journey.
The word "sumud" in the flotilla's name is an Arabic word meaning a "firm stand" or "determination," and has been used for decades as one of the slogans of the Palestinian struggle and as an expression of refusal to surrender to Israel.
Activists including Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham are on the flotilla of several dozen boats that is aiming to break Israel's naval blockade. It is carrying a small amount of food and humanitarian supplies and plans to symbolically open a humanitarian corridor.
Representatives from 44 countries are said to be participating in the flotilla, and organizers planned for additional vessels to join those that set sail from Barcelona, from ports in Italy, Greece and Tunisia. In total, they said, about 20 vessels are participating in the flotilla.
Israel says attempts to break the blockade - including one that included Thunberg in June - are a propaganda stunt in support of Hamas.
Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila, speaking to reporters in Barcelona before the flotilla set sail on Sunday, described the mission as unprecedented. “This will be the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and more boats than all previous attempts combined,” he said.
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Crowd demonstrates in Barcelona before the flotilla sets sail
(Photo: Nacho Doce/Reuters)
Hours before the sailing Sunday, boats with Palestinian flags were seen anchored in Barcelona, and hundreds of supporters of anti-Israel activists, many of them wearing keffiyehs, chanted “Free Palestine” and “Boycott Israel.” The crowd also waved pictures of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sporting a mustache resembling Adolf Hitler’s.
Two flotilla attempts in June and July were previously stopped by the Israeli Navy, with participants detained and later deported.