50 Boats Now Sailing As Part of Gaza Aid Flotilla

There are now 50 boats sailing as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, which is attempting to open a humanitarian corridor to Gaza, according to the group’s online tracker. 

Novara Media’s Kieran Andrieu said his lead boat, Family, started sailing again on Friday night, after anchoring just off the coast of Sicily on Wednesday to wait for a storm to pass. Marine tracking websites show it made good progress heading east overnight. 

34 other boats which started in Spain, Tunisia and Italy are sailing nearby, and nine have reached Sicily, but stopped there. Six other boats have set off from Greece, and plan to meet the main flotilla at sea in a few days time.

Andrieu said on Saturday that he was pleased to be moving again, because it means Gaza is getting closer, and all those on board are desperate to get there quickly. But he said that completing basic tasks had become more difficult because of seasickness.

Crew members told Novara Media they expect it to take about ten days to sail from Sicily to Gaza, which would have the flotilla approaching on around Monday 29 September – although past precedent suggests there may be more stops.

Although the final flotilla that approaches Gaza will probably be made up of dozens of boats, it’s unlikely to be as big as it is now. The flotilla has faced serious logistical and organisational challenges so far, which have delayed the mission by weeks. Storms have shown that many boats are not fit to make the journey, and as sailing season in the Mediterranean approaches an end for the year – it usually lasts from April to October – the weather is likely to worsen.

Andrieu’s boat is larger than most at 23 metres and has a confident captain and crew on board who are experienced sailing in bad weather, including in the far rougher Atlantic Ocean.

Yet Andrieu said on Friday that even with waves one metre high – he understands they could be two or three times this at worst – he was feeling seasick for the first time. He described the boat as rocking intensely from side to side. 

Current 1 metre waves are sufficient to periodically spray us with sea water, and many people are lying flat to stave off seasickness, but we’re well & truly sailing!

2 metre waves are predicted in the coming days, but our captain is nothing if not experienced, having… pic.twitter.com/ipolX7K0dG

— Kieran Andrieu (@kieran_andrieu) September 19, 2025

Shipping forecasts show high winds over the weekend between Sicily and Greece, which will create unsafe conditions for smaller and less well-maintained boats – although this may clear in time for the flotilla to pass. 

Organisers were taken aback in Tunisia by the condition of some of the boats procured by their north African satellite organisation, the Maghreb Flotilla. Many were deemed not seaworthy and had to be cancelled, leaving prominent figures like Nelson Mandela’s grandson Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela and French actor Adèle Haenel joining boats from the Barcelona fleet at the last minute, while scores of others left disappointed. Several Barcelona boats also had to be retired as a result of storm damage and mechanical failures. 

Currently, the largest of the boats to have sailed from Barcelona, Alma, is still in Sicily, initially having stayed behind to transfer fuel to smaller boats. But late on Friday it transpired that Alma was also in need of repairs. 

While Alma is expected to sail over the weekend and catch the others up at sea – something that should be achievable given its size –  some other damaged boats are likely to leave the flotilla entirely, or join a “third wave” of boats organised by “international people-led initiative” Thousand Madleens to Gaza, which is planning to leave from Sicily next week.