On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly dispatch from our international correspondentsGet a weekly international news dispatchAn aid flotilla bound for Gaza carrying Greta Thunberg was forced to return to port in Barcelona on Monday due to a storm – just a day after it set sail. The Global Sumud Flotilla left the Spanish city on Sunday, carrying food, water and medicine in what activists claimed was the largest civilian maritime mission to Israel of the war so far. But just hours into the journey, the flotilla returned to port due to adverse weather conditions, and it remains unclear when it will set sail again. The Independent looks at who is taking part in the flotilla and the challenges it faces en route to the war-torn region.open image in galleryThunberg with other activists at port in Barcelona (AP)What is the Global Sumud Flotilla?The Global Sumud Flotilla consists of dozens of boats carrying pro-Palestinian activists who are aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade on Gaza and deliver food and supplies to the enclave. Organisers say the flotilla is the largest maritime mission to Gaza so far. According to Al Jazeera, it is made up of more than 50 ships and delegations from at least 44 countries. Game of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham and former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau are also part of the flotilla. The first convoy had been due to arrive to meet with a second wave of vessels in Tunisia on Thursday. open image in galleryBoats from the Global Sumud Flotilla (Reuters)How has Israel threatened to respond?Israeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, is said to be drafting up plans for the arrest of Thunberg and the seizure of the flotilla, Israeli newspaper Israel Hayom reported. There are plans to convert the ships into a police fleet. Sources close to Ben-Gvir told the newspaper: “Following several weeks at Ktzi’ot and Damon (Israeli prisons), they’ll be sorry about the time they arrived here. We must eliminate their appetite for another attempt.”They added that Thunberg could be detained in “terrorist-level conditions”. Israel Hayom reported that a meeting was set to take place at prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence concerning their strategy against the more than 200 people who are part of the flotilla. The newspaper reported that last Thursday, Mr Ben-Gvir developed a strategy he was to present to Mr Netanyahu, which would see the detainment of activists in the Ktzi’ot and Damon detention centres for females. open image in galleryIsraeli national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, was reportedly planning for the arrest of Thunberg (AP)What does the flotilla aim to do? Gaza is currently in the grip of famine, according to the United Nations and other major humanitarian organisations. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, the 23-month war has killed more than 63,000 Palestinians, with at least 332 dying of malnutrition, including 124 children. Ms Thunberg said they hoped to “deliver humanitarian aid and break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and open up a people’s humanitarian corridor”. She said: “This project is part of a global uprising of people standing up… when our governments fail to step up, the people will take their place, and that their atrocities and their complicity in the genocide in Gaza right now… is not something that we can stand for.”open image in galleryClimate activist Greta Thunberg, 22, is handed food by Israeli soldiers aboard the Madleen (X/Israel Foreign Ministry)What happened to Thunberg’s last aid flotilla?On 9 June, a flotilla carrying climate activist Greta Thunberg on a weeklong journey to Gaza was boarded by Israeli military forces and transported to Israel. The 12-person Madleen vessel was intercepted off the coast of Gaza in the early hours, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) that manages the boat. It had left Catania, Sicily on 1 June, carrying a nominal amount of humanitarian aid. In a statement on social media, they said Israeli forces had “rammed and boarded” the vessel. An hour prior to the statement, they claimed they were “drones overhead”. The group was taken to the port of Ashdod, from where they returned to their home countries. Israel Katz, the country’s defence minister, said he had instructed the military to show the flotilla passengers videos of the 7 October massacres when they arrived in Israel. open image in galleryActivist Greta Thunberg stands aboard the aid ship Madleen (Reuters)He claimed it was necessary for “Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters to see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organisation they came to support and for whom they work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself”. Named after Gaza’s only female fisher, Madleen Kullab, the vessel was carrying Thunberg and French-Palestinian member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, among others. Ms Thunberg shot to fame in 2018 when she decided to skip school as a 15-year-old in an attempt to persuade the Swedish parliament to take more action on climate change.
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Storms and Israeli ‘terror cell’ threats: What to know about Greta Thunberg’s blockade-busting Gaza aid flotilla
