The first vessel "Sirius" of a civilian flotilla, carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid and aiming to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, leaves the Barcelona port on September 1, 2025, after being forced to return due to bad weather. Fierce Mediterranean winds forced back to Barcelona a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists including environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg, organisers said today. Some 20 vessels left Barcelona yesterday aiming to "open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people" amid the Israel-Hamas war, said the Global Sumud Flotilla -- sumud being the Arabic term for "resilience". (Photo by Lluis GENE / AFP)