A flotilla of about 20 boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid bound for Gaza has set sail from Tunisia after delays and alleged drone strikes.
The group, which has Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on board, is aiming to break Israel's blockade of Gaza and establish a humanitarian corridor to the Palestinian territory.
But the Global Sumud Flotilla claimed two of its boats were targeted by drone attacks on consecutive nights last week, with Tunisian authorities calling the strikes “premeditated aggression”.
The flotilla left the Tunisian city of Bizerte on Monday after having arrived in the North African country from Barcelona. Yasemin Acar, who is helping co-ordinate the operation, posted images on Instagram of boats departing in the early hours.
Ms Thunberg said before setting sail that the group was “trying to send a message to the people of Gaza that the world has not forgotten about you”.
“When our governments are failing to step up then we have no choice but to take matters into our own hands,” she told news agency AFP.
European Parliament member Rima Hassan, who like Ms Thunberg was detained aboard a previous boat attempting to reach Gaza in June, is also on the latest flotilla and said she feared further attacks. “We are preparing for different scenarios,” she said.
Ms Hassan said the most prominent people in the group have been split between the two largest co-ordinating boats “to balance things out and avoid concentrating all the visible personalities on a single vessel”.
The group's departure had been repeatedly postponed due to security concerns, delays in preparing some of the boats and weather. It describes itself as an independent group not linked to any government or political party.
The flotilla, which also includes vessels that left in recent days from Corsica and Sicily, had originally planned to reach Gaza by mid-September, after two earlier attempts were blocked by Israel in June and July.
On Sunday evening two other ships set sail from the Greek island of Syros to join the flotilla, AFP reported. “This is the way to show Israel that it shouldn't have the right to impose starvation,” said Kostas Fourikos, a 39-year-old crew member of the Greek vessels. “And of course to send the message of solidarity to the Palestinians, who suffer so much.”
In August the UN officially declared famine in and around Gaza city, the Palestinian territory's main urban centre that is home to about a million people. Israel denies the existence of famine in the enclave.
