A Spanish military ship departed the port of Cartagena to support the Global Sumud Flotilla to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip. The ship, carrying medical supplies, a helicopter, and a vehicle, was dispatched.
The official Spanish news agency reported that the ship, which carries 52 soldiers and eight medical crew members, is capable of participating in maritime surveillance operations, in addition to humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, drug control, and immigration control missions.
For its part, Spanish national media outlets, citing sources in the Ministry of Defense, reported that the military ship's mission "is not to accompany the flotilla, but rather to intervene only in humanitarian or rescue situations."
For days, approximately 50 ships within the flotilla have been sailing toward the Gaza Strip, carrying humanitarian aid, particularly medical supplies, and carrying more than 500 civilian activists.