Aid flotilla for Gaza departs Barcelona after U-turn due to stormy weather

MADRID - A flotilla of dozens of boats loaded with aid for Gaza departed from Barcelona port in Spain on the evening of Sept 1 after stormy weather forced them to return to port earlier, Reuters footage showed.

Some of the boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla Mission blew their horns as they left the port.

“Free, free Palestine,” shouted some activists at the port.

Pro-Palestinian activists including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and Game Of Thrones actor Liam Cunningham

are on the flotilla of several dozen boats

that is aiming to break Israel’s naval blockade and deliver food and humanitarian aid to the enclave, which has been devastated by nearly two years of war.

Israel has argued that the naval blockade it imposed in 2007 is necessary to stop weapons from being smuggled to the Hamas Palestinian militant group. It has described other attempts to break it – including one that included Ms Thunberg in June – as a propaganda stunt in support of Hamas. REUTERS