New pro-Palestine activist flotilla formed to breach Israel's naval blockade of Gaza

Pro-Palestine activists from over 40 countries recently gathered in the city of Bristol in the UK to form a new flotilla of vessels with the aim of breaking through the Israeli Government's maritime blockade of Gaza.

The group calling itself the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) claims that it is a "coordinated, non-violent fleet of mostly small vessels" that hopes to challenge Israel's "illegal siege on Gaza."

The boats that the GSF will use are, "mostly small to mid-size vessels that are legally viable, agile, and harder to obstruct," the group indicated on its website. "Each boat is overseen by a regional delegation with legal, nautical, and logistical support from the flotilla coalition."

The GSF claims that it will use its vessels to transport aid by sea to Gaza despite what it says is Israel's "total siege."

The GSF's participants also include North Africa-based Maghreb Sumud Flotilla, Global Movement to Gaza, Sumud Nusantara, and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which already had two of its vessels intercepted and detained by Israeli forces for violating the blockade earlier this year.

The first instance was in June when the yacht Madleen was interdicted with 12 people on board including controversial Swedish anti-Israel activist Greta Thunberg. Eight of them were eventually deported by Israeli authorities while Thunberg and three others left voluntarily.

On Saturday, July 26, the FFC-operated Handala with 21 people embarked was prevented by the Israeli Navy from reaching Gaza. The activist boat later sailed for the Port of Ashdod with an Israeli Navy vessel providing escort.

The naval blockade around Gaza had been put in place by the Israeli Government as a means of preventing the smuggling of weapons for use by Palestinian terror group Hamas.