The first boats of the Global Sumud Flotilla departed Tunisia’s Bizerte Port and Sicily’s Augusta Port towards the Israel-blockaded Gaza Strip on Saturday, organizers said.

A video shared by organizers showed one aid ship setting sail from Tunisia toward the Palestinian enclave. Activists and journalists, including an Anadolu correspondent, captured the moment of departure for the first vessel.

A group of 18 boats from the flotilla’s Italian fleet also set sail on Saturday from Sicily’s Augusta Port after a week of preparations.

“They will unite with the ships that are departing from Tunis today and tomorrow, including those that first launched from Barcelona, meeting at sea next week,” organizers said in a statement.

Several politicians, including a lawmaker from Italy’s main opposition party, the Democratic Party (PD), Arturo Scotto, and European Parliament member Annalisa Corrado, are onboard, according to an Anadolu correspondent.

Another group of boats is scheduled to depart Tunisia and Greece on Sunday towards Gaza, “where they’ll soon converge in international waters and sail together in the largest maritime mission toward Gaza.”

“The world is rising. We will continue to challenge Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza and will not stop mobilizing until Palestine is free,” the statement said.

The Gaza-bound flotilla includes nearly 50 vessels, carrying between 500 and 700 activists, including artists, parliamentarians, and prominent political figures, from more than 45 countries.

The convoy is the largest of its kind to date, as previous attempts involved single ships that Israel intercepted at sea.

Organizers say the goal is to challenge the blockade and open a humanitarian corridor for the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where famine conditions have taken hold under Israel’s months-long aid blockade.

The Israeli army has continued a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip, killing more than 64,800 Palestinians since October 2023. The military campaign has devastated the enclave, which is facing famine.

Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.