Greta Thunberg’s Gaza Flotilla Returns After Storm Hits

Greta Thunberg’s aid flotilla has been forced to return to Barcelona less than 24 hours into its journey to Gaza because of stormy weather.

Dozens of boats set sail for the war-torn enclave on Sunday in the largest attempt yet to break the Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territory by sea, but returned to “prioritise safety”.

“We conducted a sea trial and then returned to port to allow the storm to pass,” the Global Sumud Flotilla Mission said in a statement. “This meant delaying our departure to avoid risking complications with the smaller boats.”

Winds reached up to around 35mph, according to organisers, who did not say if and when they planned to resume the journey.

The flotilla, consisting of around 20 boats and activists from 44 countries, includes Liam Cunningham, the Game of Thrones actor, and Ada Colau, a former mayor of Barcelona.

It comes as Israel stepps up its offensive on Gaza City, limiting the delivery of food and supplies in the north of the enclave.

Thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters gathered on the docks of Barcelona’s old port on Sunday to cheer the mission as it set off.

Aemet, Spain’s national weather agency, had issued warnings of rainfall and strong storms in the Catalonia region, which ultimately forced the trip to be suspended.

It emerged on Sunday that Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s far-Right national security minister, was planning to present Benjamin Netanyahu with a plan to detain the activists in “terrorist-level” conditions should the flotilla reach Gaza again.

It comes just less than three months after Thunberg was deported from Israel after being intercepted during a previous attempt to break the naval blockade.

Israel has argued that the naval blockade it imposed in 2007 is necessary to stop weapons from being smuggled to Hamas. It has described other attempts to break it as a propaganda stunt in support of the terror group.

Thunberg rejected accusations of anti-Semitism ahead of her departure, telling Sky News: “It is not anti-Semitic to say that we should not be bombing people, that one should not be living in occupation, that everyone should have the right to live in freedom and dignity, no matter who you are.

“For every politician that is fuelling the genocide further, environmental and climate destruction, and further colonisation and fascism, there will be people escalating the resistance against that.”

Following their last failed attempt, Thunberg and her fellow activists were offered the chance to watch footage of Hamas atrocities from Oct 7, which they refused, according to Israel Katz, Israel’s defence minister. He said at the time: “When they saw what it was about, they refused to continue watching.”

Thunberg, who was later deported on an Israeli plane to Paris, claimed the group of activists “were kidnapped in international waters…We were well aware of the risks of this mission. The aim was to get to Gaza and to be able to distribute the aid”.