We Refuse To Wait Press Statement [Multilingual PDF available]

PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

We Refuse to Wait: Global Sumud Flotilla To Set Sail
As Gaza Faces Ongoing Atrocities

The largest civilian maritime mission for Palestine in history departs Barcelona
this Sunday, April 12, 2026

April 8, 2026, Barcelona – The Global Sumud Flotilla will set sail from Barcelona this Sunday,
April 12, 2026, joined by Open Arms and Greenpeace’s Arctic Sunrise. While
countries trade ceasefire announcements, the Israeli regime’s assault on Gaza and
ground offensive in Lebanon continue as of this morning, underscoring how little
has changed for civilians under fire and how urgent it is to act.

The flotilla’s strategy and purpose are clear: to challenge israel's illegal siege on
Gaza, deliver aid, and confront the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people
and the complicity that enables it.

We sail because Palestinian civil society has urged international solidarity
movements to mobilize. Their direction guides every decision we make.

We sail not despite war, escalations, threats, and fragile and broken ceasefires,
but because of them.

The Siege Deepened Beneath the Chaos

As global attention has shifted toward the wider regional conflict, the israeli
regime deepened its genocidal agenda: tightening the siege, strangling aid,
expanding settlements, accelerating land theft, implementing an apartheid
death penalty law that applies exclusively to Palestinians, and burying its war
crimes beneath chaos. Every day of inaction cedes ground to imperial violence.
That ground, once taken, does not return easily.

We will not wait to see if the US-Israel-Iran ceasefire holds. We sail because
waiting costs lives.

Confronting Imperial Violence on Land and Sea

What the world permitted in Palestine has metastasized. Silence gave impunity.
Impunity became permission. Permission became escalation.

The world must rise to free itself from the grip of the corporations, governments,
institutions, and entities that fuel atrocities and protect war criminals. We act to
confront the systems that allow a few men to make decisions at whim that
threaten millions of lives, poison our land and sea, and pull the world deeper into
violence.

The weapons systems, shipping networks, and political alliances sustaining
Gaza's siege fuel violence around the world. This is not a series of isolated crises. It
is one war machine, and it must be confronted collectively. We are mobilizing by
sea and by land, organizing in parliaments, convoys, ports, streets, and civil
society networks across every coalition country. Coordinated pressure halts
weapons shipments, exposes state complicity, and advances accountability
under international law.

We sail under the law. The siege is illegal. Our right to establish a humanitarian
corridor for a civilian population under siege is intact.

Updated Mission Strategy

Our plans were built for wartime. They remain.

The urgency of this moment demands not only boldness, but precision. The
flotilla departs with a consolidated fleet of over 70 vessels carrying more than
1,000 participants from more than 70 countries, with the capacity to expand as
conditions allow. Every movement has been carefully planned to respond to
heightened security threats and a rapidly shifting regional landscape.

Palestinian civil society leaders, alongside specialists in legal, political, maritime
security, and media strategy, are coordinating directly with mission organizers at
every level, ensuring that every decision, every route, and every action is
disciplined, informed, and impossible to ignore. Every participant receives
continuous, up-to-date risk briefings, embedding informed consent into the
mission itself.

Solidarity is rooted in clarity, preparedness, and collective conviction.

Our Demands

The Global Sumud Flotilla sails with clear political demands of governments,
institutions, and the international community:

● Open a permanent sea and land corridor to Gaza and guarantee safe
passage for humanitarian aid, civilian vessels, medical personnel, and
reconstruction materials under international supervision and Palestinian
leadership.

● Honor binding legal obligations, including under the Genocide
Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and the ICJ's 2024 advisory opinion,
by imposing an immediate arms embargo on the Israeli regime,
suspending agreements that entrench the occupation, and cooperating
fully with international accountability mechanisms.

● Ensure Palestinian-led reconstruction and leadership free from foreign
control, political conditions, or displacement, paired with the lifting of the
siege and the right of return for all Palestinians.

● Deliver accountability for genocide through full enforcement of ICC
arrest warrants, continued ICJ proceedings, and the exercise of universal
jurisdiction wherever applicable.

These are a summary. Read the full demands here.

The North Star

We answer the calls of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Their voices
guide us. Every vessel, every delegation, every moment of international civilian
action can help return Palestine to the center of global attention.

We sail under the law. The siege is illegal. Our right to establish a humanitarian
corridor for a civilian population under siege is intact.

We will not wait. We will not back down. We sail now.

MEDIA ACCREDITATION & CONTACT

Email: media@globalsumudflotilla.org
Signal / WhatsApp: +44 1414 620 950
Website: globalsumudflotilla.org

Submit press inquiries here.

Follow our announcements on telegram.

Social: @globalsumudflotilla