Despite the family’s boats suffering from engine failure and pressure from the Italian government, the Global Smood Fleet, a group of boats seeking to break Israel’s siege, has decided that they will not stop their journey to the Gaza Strip.
In a video published in the evening between Friday and Saturday, Thiagoávila, one of the Flotilla spokesmen, said the family boat had suffered “devastating technical failures” with the engine and was unable to continue the journey.
The boat has been hit by a “baked Cen drone attack” in recent weeks and had to overcome technical difficulties, but due to current failures, it is no longer able to sail safely.
However, Avila repeated the mission to continue uninterrupted, with the aid cargo and people relocating to other units in the fleet now on retired family boats.
“The need to act is more urgent than ever in light of ongoing military operations in Gaza,” Avila said as Avila updated its requests for international support.
The boat departure is scheduled for Saturday, as confirmed by Italian media by Ancona native Sylvia Severini on a Surboat.
Italian government pressure on the fleet
The Italian government is putting strong pressure on the fleet to stop its journey to Gaza.
Italian President Sergio Matarera asked the fleet to avoid “injuring someone else,” urging the group to send assistance through humanitarian corridors to advise Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her defense minister Guido Closett.
The Italian Prime Minister called for the opening of a humanitarian corridor to send aid transported for delivery to Palestinians in Gaza through Cyprus. This initiative confirms that aid is distributed through the Latin patriarchy of Jerusalem.
Dozens of Italian delegations, highlighted at a meeting in Rome by Gorgina Levi, a spokesman for the global movement to Gaza, have decided to abandon the journey, but the rest of the roughly 50 Italians on the boats of the fleet are moving forward on their journey to Gaza.
In response to Matarera’s appeal on Friday, Maria Elena Delia, Italian spokesman for global SUMUD Flotilla, said she “thanks the president for what he said,” but emphasized that abandoning the mission would “change focus from a central purpose.”
“We are very happy to find humanitarian corridors, and we want to be permanent, but this is not a replacement for free navigating international waters. We are trying to highlight anomalies,” Delia said.
“I am not intending to be intentionally injured. I ask the government. Is it possible to tell Israel that if they attack those boats in international waters, we will impose sanctions on them?
“Israel can ensure that the naval corridor is open once a month and that the naval corridor is open so that the fleet can provide assistance at sea. There are many possibilities, but we need to do more than ask them not to go to Gaza.”
Frontex doesn’t help the fleet
Meanwhile, the European Border Patrol and Coast Guard Frontex announced they could not support the fleet.
Speaking to Italian media, a spokesman for the agency, he explained that he, as a civil and non-military organization, he lacked the ability to provide protection or escort as he heads to the besieged enclave.
It came after 58 MEPs from the left, greens, socialists, democrats and non-attack groups sent letters to Ursula von Der Leyen, president of the EU Commission, demanding emergency intervention by Frontex.
