The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza (ECESG) announced that a Freedom Flotilla III departed from Sweden on May 10 and is expected to reach the Gaza Strip at the end of June. Meanwhile, the Gazans are preparing to receive the ships carrying medical aid, European activists and nongovernmental organization supporters of the Palestinian cause and hoping for an end to the siege that has lasted about eight years.

During a May 31 speech before the Left Forum conference in the United States, ECESG spokeswoman Jacqueline Richardson said, “This month, the world will witness a noble mission whereby dozens of activists will take action to participate in the Freedom Flotilla III, which will peacefully sail to Gaza.”

The Swedish ship Marianne — the largest in the flotilla, currently carrying 13 Norwegian and Swedish activists — reached the port city of Pontevedra in northwest Spain on May 30 and sailed again June 1 toward Lisbon. It's scheduled to land at other ports in Italy and Greece, where it will board more European activists, then head to Gaza.

Rami Abdo, an ECESG member and the co-founder of the Alliance of the Freedom Flotilla, told Al-Monitor, “The people in Spain warmly welcomed the Marianne.” He said that as it sails across the Mediterranean, it will meet with other ships in the fleet before setting off for Gaza, adding, “We cannot speculate as to the number of ships that will set off for the Gaza Strip due to the increasing number of solidarity and human rights associations in Europe participating in the fleet.”