Global Sumud Flotilla set to continue its mission to Gaza as Frontex declines to provide protection

Despite the Family Boat suffering an engine failure and pressures from the Italian government, the group of boats aiming to break the Israeli siege, the Global Sumud Flotilla, has decided that it will not stop its journey to the Gaza Strip.

In a video published in the night between Friday and Saturday, one of the Flotilla's spokespersons, Thiago Ávila, said that the Family Boat had suffered a "catastrophic technical failure" in the engine, preventing it from continuing its journey.

The boat had been hit in recent weeks by "incendiary drone attacks" and had to overcome technical difficulties, but due to the current failure, it can no longer safely sail.

Ávila reiterated however that the mission continues without interruption and that the aid cargo and people on board the now retired Family Boat will be relocated to other units of the flotilla.

"The need to act is more urgent than ever in light of the ongoing military operations in Gaza," said Ávila, as he renewed calls for international support.

The departure of the boats, as confirmed to Italian media outlets by Silvia Severini, an Ancona native on board the Seulle boat, is scheduled for Saturday.

Italian government pressures on the Flotilla

The Italian government has been applying strong pressure on the Flotilla to stop the journey to Gaza.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella asked the Flotilla to avoid "putting anyone in harm's way", and urged the group to heed of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her Defence Minister Guido Crosetto's advice to instead send aid through humanitarian corridors.

The Italian premier has requested that a humanitarian corridor be opened to send the aid the Flotilla is carrying for delivery to Palestinians in Gaza through Cyprus. The initiative will see the aid being distributed via the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

A dozen people from the Italian delegation, as highlighted during a conference in Rome by Giorgina Levi, spokesperson for the Global Movement to Gaza, have decided to abandon the journey, but the remaining part of the approximately fifty Italians on board the flotilla's boats are carrying forward with their journeys to Gaza.

Maria Elena Delia, the Italian spokesperson for the Global Sumud Flotilla, responding to Mattarella's appeal on Friday, noted that she "appreciated the president's words" but stressed that abandoning the mission will "shift focus from the central objective".

"We are very willing to find a humanitarian corridor, which we would like to be permanent, but this cannot be an alternative to being able to freely navigate international waters. We are trying to highlight an anomaly," Delia stated.

"There is no intention to get hurt on purpose, we ask governments: is it possible to tell Israel that if they attack those boats in international waters, we will impose sanctions on them? Can we consider the possibility that Italy imposes an arms embargo or renounces some commercial agreements?"

"Israel could guarantee that once a month a naval corridor is opened so that UN ships, not the Flotilla's, can deliver aid by sea. There are many possibilities, but more needs to be done than asking us not to go to Gaza," added the activist.

Frontex will not help the Flotilla

Meanwhile, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, has announced that it will not be able to support the Flotilla.

Speaking to Italian media, a spokesperson for the agency explained that as a civil and non-military organisation, it does not have the capacity to provide protection or escort to the Flotilla as it heads to the besieged enclave.

It comes after 58 MEPs from the Left, Greens, Socialists and Democrats, and non-attached groups had sent a letter to the President of the EU Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, demanding urgent intervention by Frontex.