Fifty small boats will arrive at the edge of Israeli waters in mid-September. The goal is to deliver 300 tons of humanitarian aid.

While the world is silent, we set sail. This is the slogan appearing on the website of the Global Sumud Flotilla, the coordinated and nonviolent civilian fleet, composed primarily of small boats, sailing from ports across the Mediterranean to Gaza. The first departures are today from Barcelona and Genoa. On September 4th, the volunteers already at sea will be joined by other boats from Tunisia and Sicily. In total, the expedition should count on around fifty small sailing boats, which, being more agile and numerous, should, according to the organizers, be able to bypass the blockade imposed by Israel. The crew, around 500 people, is made up of well-known activists and politicians such as environmentalist Greta Thunberg, Brazilian Thiago Avila, and former mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau. According to initial estimates, the flotilla is expected to arrive near Israeli territorial waters in mid-September. This will be the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and more vessels than all previous attempts combined, Avila told reporters last week.

Leading the fleet departing from Italy is Maria Elena Delia, a longtime Palestine activist and Italian spokesperson for the Global Movement to Gaza. The goal is very concrete, she told Corriere della Sera,"we want to deliver the more than 300 tons of humanitarian aid, including food and medicine, collected in five days from all over Italy. The risk of arrest, however, is high:"Of course, the Israeli navy will order us to turn back," she added,"and it's easy for them to arrest the crews and seize the cargo. But the mission is also born as a political act, and we know what we're getting into." The Italian initiative has received the support of artists, actors, historians, and intellectuals, including Alessandro Gassman, Claudio Santamaria, Subsonica, Laika, Elisa, Fiorella Mannoia, and Assalti Frontali. Among the videos posted on the #globalmovementtogazaitalia Instagram account, stand out: a comic by Zerocalcare — Breaking an inhuman siege... We do from below what states don't do, says the narrator — and one by historian Alessandro Barbero, who explains the profound meaning of this mission: Sumud is an Arabic word that indicates the ability to resist, the strength to persevere, to endure everything in the face of adversity. When the Arabs who use it are Palestinians, it's clear to everyone what it means, says Barbero, who speaks of a government's crimes against an entire people, against its children.

Before boarding, the crew underwent an intensive two-day training session in which they were instructed on how to behave if Israeli soldiers searched the boat. The first rule is to avoid any physical or verbal contact; resistance, throwing objects, running, or jumping from the boat into the water are prohibited. The activists were also provided with a list of lawyers they could contact in the event of detention.

Since Israel imposed the blockade on Gaza in 2007, more than 37 maritime missions have taken place. This is the largest, with participants from 44 countries. This is the fourth mission this year and the most ambitious."I think we'll make it this time," confides a woman who attempted it in May with the Al Damir, the sailing boat that attempted to reach the Strip by sea, was hit by two military drones and nearly sank off the coast of Malta. The Madleen and the Handala, which attempted again in the following months, were intercepted and stopped in international waters. The crews—including MEPs like Rima Hassan—were arrested, held for several days, and then expelled with a century-long entry ban. In 2010, however, the mission ended in bloodshed: ten dead and dozens injured. Even the numbers could play a role: intercepting so many boats and people could be complicated even for Israel.

The activists are convinced they are on the right side of history, as Greta says. The slogans are chanted with raised fists and a powerful revolutionary lyricism. The enemy is Zionism. The underlying desire is the extinction of Israel. The flotilla, as Saif Abukeshek, one of its organizers, points out, is taking a step that governments that criticize Israel, but secretly support it, dare not take. For those who are part of the flotilla, Europe is as complicit in the genocide as the United States.