Crystal Charles
Around 150 Italian activists, journalists, and several parliamentarians gathered on Thursday ahead of setting sail with the Global Sumud Flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip.
The Italian contingent is expected to depart from Syracuse to join the main flotilla group, which left Barcelona and is currently in Tunisian waters, in its attempt to break the blockade and deliver aid to the embattled enclave.
Benedetta Scuderi, a European MP from the Green and Left Alliance party, said, “We, the civilian population, who risk our lives for a sense of humanity, are being labeled as criminals. This is unacceptable. We ask the government of Giorgia Meloni and the European institutions for full diplomatic protection. Support for the Global Sumud Flotilla is needed because it should have been them on these ships, not us.”
The boats are loaded with food and medical aid for Gaza’s civilian population.
The main flotilla reported on Wednesday that it was attacked for a second consecutive night when a drone targeted one of its boats docked in Tunisian waters. No injuries were reported.