Zeteo Joins the Gaza Flotilla as It Sets Sail to Break Israel’s Blockade
Journalist Alex Colston reports from on board a sailboat headed to Gaza as part of a massive mission committed to breaking Israel’s siege and bringing more attention to the ongoing genocide.
A note from our Editor-in-Chief:
I’m happy to share that Zeteo is aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, which just set sail from Spain with the aim of reaching Gaza. Freelance journalist Alex Colston will be filing dispatches, like his first one below, videos, and updates from the sea for Zeteo, as dozens of boats and what’s expected to be more than 1,000 participants attempt to break Israel’s blockade of the Strip. This work is incredibly important, but it’s not easy. Your support helps us be able to commit to projects like these.
If you’re not already a paid Zeteo subscriber, be sure to become one today to ensure you get all of Alex’s updates – in full, without a paywall! – from the flotilla over the next few weeks. And if you already are one, you can always support our work – and projects like these – further with a donation.
-Mehdi
I’m writing from the waters off the coast of Barcelona, not long after setting sail today aboard the Iqrit, a 50-foot schooner named after a Palestinian village in upper Galilee near Lebanon that was depopulated during the 1948 Nakba. I am sailing with the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF), a maritime direct action organization committed to breaking Israel’s siege and blockade by sea and by land, alongside hundreds of international activists, humanitarian workers, doctors and clinicians, teachers, journalists, and members of Greenpeace and Open Arms. With thousands of participants from across the world, comprising over 50 national delegations, GSF has been preparing for eight months to sail this spring.
The goal is technically a relatively simple one: sail some boats – carrying food, medical supplies, baby formula, and other aid – from any available port in the Mediterranean to the shores of Gaza in Palestine. But since 2010, these attempts have been anything but easy.