Global Sumud Flotilla Turns Back to Barcelona After Storm

A flotilla carrying humanitarian supplies and pro-Palestinian activists including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg was forced to turn back to Barcelona on Sunday after encountering stormy weather, organizers said, but set out again on Monday with some vessels now reported to have arrived in Tunisia as the group presses a bid to break Israel's naval blockade of Gaza. Organizers said the initial return was ordered after a sea trial revealed winds of up to about 35 miles per hour that would have put smaller boats at risk, and that safety concerns delayed the mission only briefly.

The Global Sumud Flotilla aims to deliver food, water and medicine to the Gaza Strip and is being billed by organizers as the largest civilian maritime mission to Gaza since the current war began. Accounts of the convoy's size vary. Organizers have described more than 50 ships and delegations from roughly 44 countries taking part; other reports said about 20 Spanish vessels left Barcelona and later reached Tunis, where hundreds of Tunisians gathered to welcome the arrivals. A spokesperson for the flotilla said around 45 nationalities were present in Tunisia and estimated that between 500 and 800...