Global Sumud Flotilla relaunches with 54 boats from Marmaris, two weeks after Israeli interception
The Global Sumud Flotilla left the southwestern Türkiye port of Marmaris on Thursday with 54 boats and activists from 70 countries — including Hak-İş labour confederation president Mahmut Arslan — in a second attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza, two weeks after Israeli forces intercepted the convoy in international waters off Greece on April 30. Spanish-Palestinian organiser Saif Abu Keshek, deported from Israel on Sunday alongside Brazilian activist Thiago Avila, told reporters in Marmaris on Wednesday that 'more than 500 brave people' would resume the mission and accused Israel of conducting a 'slow genocide' through the blockade. The relaunch follows a September 2025 attempt by the same group that was intercepted in international waters with hundreds of activists detained.
The Global Sumud Flotilla left the southwestern Turkish port of Marmaris on Thursday with 54 boats and activists from 70 countries, mounting a second attempt to break Israel's blockade of Gaza two weeks after Israeli forces intercepted the convoy off the Greek coast.
Among the Turkish participants are Sümeyra Akdeniz Ordu, a board member of the flotilla, and Mahmut Arslan, head of the Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-İş), one of Türkiye's largest labour federations. The convoy's first leg launched from Spain on April 12; it was stopped in international waters off Greece on April 30, with most of the activists released onto the Greek island of Crete and two — Saif Abu Keshek, a Spanish national of Palestinian origin, and Brazilian activist Thiago Avila — taken to Israel for questioning. Israel deported the pair on Sunday, which a rights group representing them called a "punitive attack" on a civilian mission.
The deported activists regrouped in Marmaris alongside the wider flotilla. At a news conference in the port on Wednesday, Abu Keshek told reporters that "more than 500 brave people" would now resume the mission, accusing Israel of conducting a "slow genocide" through the blockade. "They are implementing a colonizing process to displace Palestinians," he said. "The struggle of Palestinians, however, continues because Palestinians are like olive trees and will not leave the soil. We are embarking on our voyage because we are inspired by people resisting [Israel] for 78 years."
The relaunch follows a September 2025 attempt by the same group that was also intercepted in international waters, with hundreds of international activists detained at the time. Israel has maintained a blockade on Gaza since 2007. The Daily Sabah account of Thursday's departure put the toll of the war that began in October 2023 at more than 72,000 Palestinians killed and about 90 percent of the Strip's infrastructure destroyed; the United Nations has estimated reconstruction costs at roughly $70 billion.