Al Jazeera Podcasts.

Today, as aid barely trickles into Gaza, a group of activists try to break Israel's siege themselves.

We put Israel on notice that we were coming,

that we were unarmed civilians,

carrying humanitarian aid,

intending to deliver it directly to Gaza.

We hear the story of their years-long struggle.

I'm Malika Bilal, and this is the take.

In the last few months, hundreds of civilian activists have been organizing where many of

their governments have failed, trying to get tons of

aid into Gaza. Among them is Huehaharaf. I'm a Palestinian-American human rights attorney,

and I am one of the coordinators of the Gaza Freedom Fletla. With land entrances blocked or highly

restricted, it's a mission they intend to take by sea.

At a port in southern Turkey, this cargo ship is being loaded with aid that may well never be delivered.

This flotilla is an emergency flotilla to confront and challenge and try to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza.

The movement to break Israel's naval blockade on Gaza has existed for more than a decade.

Huita has been on four boats that have successfully done it, and three that haven't.

And after October 7th, it became clear pretty quickly that they wanted to sail again.

We called an emergency meeting in Istanbul, where we had people representing the various national campaigns

fly in and determine whether or not we can send an emergency flotilla.

We did take a decision that we had to try.

And that was in mid-February.

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