Italian dockworkers in Genoa warned they will stop cargo bound for Israel if contact is lost with the Global Sumud Flotilla or the mission is blocked.
Speaking at a torchlit rally on August 31, Riccardo Rudino of the CALP dockers’ collective said that “if we lose contact with our boats for even 20 minutes, we will block cargo for Israel.”
The rally drew crowds in the tens of thousands as four small vessels departed from Genoa; a fifth left from La Spezia, with Italy’s contingent aiming to rendezvous in Sicily before heading east.
The pledge coincided with what organizers describe as the largest civil flotilla yet, involving dozens of craft and participants from more than 40 countries. Strong winds briefly forced the Spanish group to return to port on September 1 before departing again later that day.
In Italy, volunteers under NGO Music for Peace boxed roughly 260 tonnes of food and essentials by the weekend, with local tallies climbing to around 300 tonnes. Genoa’s mayor, Silvia Salis, publicly backed the humanitarian effort and wrote to foreign minister Antonio Tajani asking Rome to monitor and protect Italian participants.
Tajani said it was not his understanding that flotilla volunteers were “terrorists,” after Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said activists could face detention under harsher regimes if they approached Israeli waters.
Two Italian logistics players supported the aid push: Spinelli Group and Grimaldi Group donated containers and sea transport to move boxed aid south for loading onto the Italian boats; Spinelli Group is 49% owned by Hapag-Lloyd. Union speakers at the rally said “13–14 thousand containers a year” move from the region to Israel.
Spinelli Group is a privately held Italian group of companies operating under Italian law across port, depot and intermodal services.