Gaza-bound flotilla grows to 40 vessels after becoming a member of Sicilian group

The armada of about forty vessels is now roughly 1,000 miles from the coast of Gaza.

The Gaza-bound International Sumud Flotilla has grown in measurement after the vessels that made up its preliminary group from Spain joined round twenty vessels from Sicily on Thursday. The flotilla’s vessels and activists come from quite a few nations.

The preliminary group of about twenty ships departed Barcelona on September 1, briefly paused close to the island of Minorca, and arrived off the coast of Tunisia on September 7. They’ve now merged to kind a bigger armada and are presently about 60 miles off the coast of Sicily, heading towards the japanese Mediterranean.

The armada is made up principally of crusing boats, although a number of bigger craft are additionally taking part. The group claimed that whereas in Tunisia, that they had been threatened by drones. It’s unclear whether or not there’s proof of this, except for movies displaying flaming objects falling close to one of many vessels, named Household. That vessel gave the impression to be unhurt.

The flotilla remained off the coast of the Tunis suburb of Sidi Bou Mentioned for 5 days earlier than crusing to Bizerte on Tunisia’s north coast. On Tuesday, they departed Tunisian waters and made the crossing to Italy.

In Italy, a bunch of roughly 20 vessels had left a port north of Syracuse and sailed to Portopalo, on the southern coast, on Tuesday. The 2 teams mixed on Thursday, paused off the southern coast of Sicily, after which headed east.

Between Thursday and Saturday, they traveled about 55 nautical miles, briefly stopping attributable to considerations over excessive winds. As of the afternoon of September 20, they seem like underway once more. For among the crew, this marks a 20-day journey from Spain. That is the newest try by activists to break what they name a “siege” of Gaza.

Activists say they concern being attacked by Israel

The activists have posted on social media that they concern being attacked by Israel. Kieran Andrieu, who describes himself as a political economist on X and a contributor to Novara Media, wrote that “we want your assist and a focus to maintain the flotilla secure.” He claimed that Israeli “propaganda” was focusing on the flotilla as “terror-linked.” He added, “The very fact Israel is leaning into the latter technique in the intervening time may be very regarding. However we stay undeterred.”

The armada of about forty vessels is now roughly 1,000 miles from the coast of Gaza. Based mostly on their sluggish progress over the previous 20 days, it is going to take them at the very least eight days and probably as much as 20 days to succeed in Gaza. To this point, the Spanish contingent has traveled about 1,000 miles.

One other group of sailboats is coming from Greece. They left Syros on Sunday and at the moment are close to Milos, the southwestern-most island within the Cyclades group.