Barcelona’s flotilla of defiance: Can ships with aid and celebrities break Israel’s Gaza blockade?

A fleet of ships carrying activists, aid, and celebrities has set sail from Barcelona to Gaza, in what organizers call a test of international resolve against Israel’s two-year blockade. (Image: Associated Press)

On Sunday, the port of Barcelona turned into a stage of protest and symbolism. Twenty boats, some weathered yachts, others tiny sailboats, others industrial vessels, lined up under Palestinian flags as thousands of supporters chanted 'Free Palestine!' and 'Boycott Israel!'

It was the launch of the Global Sumud Flotilla, a multinational convoy of aid and solidarity, aimed directly at Gaza’s tightly sealed waters. Organisers say delegations from 44 countries are involved, with more ships expected to join from Italy, Greece, and Tunisia as the flotilla crosses the Mediterranean.

The demand is: safe passage for food, water, and medicine into northern Gaza, where aid agencies warn famine has already set in.

A celebrity-studded convoy

This flotilla is not only about aid, it is about visibility. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, actors Susan Sarandon and Liam Cunningham, and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau are among those on board. Journalists, politicians, and rights activists are sailing with them.

“The story here is about Palestine. The story here is how people are being deliberately deprived of the very basic means to survive,” Thunberg told reporters, as reported by Associated press. She knows the risks well: in June, she was deported after her ship, the Madleen, was intercepted by the Israeli navy.

Cunningham drove the point home at Sunday’s press conference by playing a video of a young girl, Fatima, singing as she prepared her own funeral. She died just four days ago. “What sort of world have we slid into where children are making their own funeral arrangements?” he asked.

Israel’s track record with aid convoys

The flotilla’s challenge is not new. In late July, Israeli forces seized another aid vessel, detained 21 activists and journalists, and confiscated baby formula, food, and medicine.

Israel has consistently intercepted such ships, arguing that Hamas uses aid corridors to smuggle weapons. Activists counter that these seizures are unlawful under international law and constitute collective punishment of Gaza’s civilians.

Thunberg was blunt: “It has been very clear that Israel has been continuously violating international law by attacking, unlawfully intercepting the boats in international waters, and preventing humanitarian aid from coming in.”

The symbolism versus the risk

Every flotilla to Gaza is less about cargo and more about confrontation. A few dozen tons of food and water cannot reverse a famine, but the images of international figures risking interception at sea spotlight the crisis in a way diplomatic statements rarely do.

The risk is equally real: interception, detention, and international headlines that fade in a week. For activists, though, each voyage keeps Gaza in the public eye. For Israel, each voyage is a security challenge it insists it cannot ignore.

Famine warnings grow louder

Earlier this month, food experts sounded the alarm that Gaza City was in famine, with half a million people across the strip facing catastrophic hunger. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, at least 332 Palestinians have already died of malnutrition, including 124 children.

The war, which began on October 7, 2023, after Hamas’s deadly assault inside Israel, has killed more than 63,000 people in Gaza. Israeli forces have tightened their control over aid deliveries, especially in the north, where entire neighborhoods have been declared combat zones.

On Saturday, an Israeli official confirmed that the country plans to slow or even halt humanitarian aid into northern Gaza as it intensifies military operations.