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A global fleet of boats is preparing to set sail for Gaza as part of an international maritime initiative aimed at delivering humanitarian aid to starving people in Gaza.

The first convoy… is scheduled to depart from Spanish ports on August 31, to meet up in Tunisia with a second wave on September 4.

Organisers describe the Global Sumud Flotilla as the largest maritime mission to Gaza, bringing together more than 50 ships and delegations from at least 44 countries.

Collectively, they will form the largest coordinated civilian flotilla in history.

According to the Global Sumud Flotilla website, the coalition comprises a range of people, including organisers, humanitarians, doctors, artists, clergy, lawyers, and seafarers, who are united by a belief in human dignity, the power of nonviolent action, and a single truth: the siege and genocide must end.

Although hundreds will set sail from the organised fleet, tens of thousands of others have registered to participate in the initiative.

In 2008, two boats from the Free Gaza Movement successfully reached Gaza, marking the first breach of Israel’s naval blockade. The movement, founded in 2006 by activists during Israel’s war on Lebanon, went on to launch 31 boats between 2008 and 2016, five of which reached Gaza despite heavy Israeli restrictions.

Since 2010, all flotillas attempting to break the Gaza blockade have been intercepted or attacked by Israel in international waters.

An estimated Twenty-seven ships to set sail for Gaza from multiple ports to break Israel’s siege on the enclave.

This will be activist Greta Thunberg’s second mission, having been taken captive by Israel earlier this year when her ship and fellow crew members were sprayed with illicit chemicals and boarded unlawfully in international waters. The Handala and her crew also suffered a similar fate earlier this summer.

Dozens of people gathered on Saturday at the port of Barcelona where a flotilla will set sail for Gaza on Sunday. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is hoping to break… the naval blockade imposed by Israel along the coast of the Gaza Strip since 2007... (AP video and production by Hernan Munoz)

Additional information:

The Global Sumud Flotilla

The Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza: Everything you need to know

Largest flotilla for Gaza hopes to pressure Israel to end blockade

“We’re talking really for the first time about a structural declining trend in China’s emissions,” he [Lauri Myllyvirta] said…

“This is a moment of global significance, offering a rare glimmer of hope in an otherwise bleak climate landscape,” he wrote in an email response. It also shows that a country can cut emissions while still growing economically, he [Li Shuo] said.

But Li cautioned that China’s heavy reliance on coal remains a serious threat... “There’s still a long road ahead,” he said.

In an area that is largely desert, the massive solar project has wrought a surprising change on the landscape. The panels act as windbreaks to reduce dust and sand and slow soil evaporation, giving vegetation a foothold. Thousands of sheep, dubbed “photovoltaic sheep,” graze happily on the scrubby plants.

“In terms of production, enterprises generate electricity on the top level, and in terms of ecology, grass grows at the bottom under the solar panels, and villagers can herd sheep in between,” he said.

Like many of China’s solar and wind farms, it was built in the relatively sparsely populated west. A major challenge is getting electricity to the population centers and factories in China’s east…

“This is an issue that the policymakers have recognized and are trying to manage, but it does require big changes to the way coal-fired power plants operate and big changes to the way the transmission network operates,” he said. “So it’s no small task.”

Communications have been restored and the Freedom Flotilla ship Handala remains en route and on mission to challenge the blockade of Gaza. 19 Human Rights Defenders and 2 Journalists from 12 countries are on board.

Communications have been restored and the Freedom Flotilla ship Handala remains en route and on mission to challenge the blockade of Gaza. 19 Human Rights Defenders and 2 Journalists from 12 countries are on board.

Communications have been restored and the Freedom Flotilla ship Handala remains en route and on mission to challenge the blockade of Gaza. 19 Human Rights Defenders and 2 Journalists from 12 countries are on board.