A Libyan vessel named after the anti-colonial hero Omar al-Mukhtar is being converted into a floating emergency clinic to join the Gaza-bound Sumud flotilla after activists reported "surveillance drones shadowing."
The vessel, carrying former Libyan Prime Minister Omar al-Hassi along with a small group of Libyan and foreign activists, had been scheduled to depart from Tripoli's coast this week.
Rough seas forced a delay, but organisers said they would now use the time to stock the ship with medical supplies and a volunteer team of doctors.
"Israel is committing an act of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. We hope to reach the enclave to help lift the blockade, and we call on world leaders to step in and end this war," said the former Prime minister.
"The Omar al-Mukhtar" carries about 15 activists, including Libyans, a US national, two British journalists, a Scottish journalist, and a Canadian participant, according to organisers.
Another Libyan vessel, the Muwal Libya, set sail directly from Tunisian shores this week to join the flotilla without docking in Libya.
The fleet is part of the Global Sumud Flotilla, the largest international attempt yet to challenge Israel's 18-year blockade of Gaza, with about 50 vessels and hundreds of participants from 44 countries.
Participants include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Mandla Mandela, grandson of Nelson Mandela.
Late Tuesday, one of the last Maghreb boats, the Sumud, slipped out of Tunisian waters under what activists described as the close shadow of drones.
The mission, which began in Barcelona on 31 August, has already faced two strikes on vessels that organisers blamed on Israel.
Tunisian authorities initially dismissed the reports as accidents before later acknowledging they were deliberate. One of the targeted ships, the Family, had been slated to carry the flotilla's steering committee, along with Thunberg and French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan.
And that's why the Libyan boat is preparing for the worst.
"We are peace activists. We won't aim to create problems. But given Israel's record of violating international law, it would be unwise not to prepare for every possibility," said Yvonne Ridley, a spokeswoman for participants on the Libyan ship.
The activist said they came up with the hospital ship idea after activists voiced fears of new drone attacks on the fleet.
This marks the first time an initiative of this scale is departing from North Africa, a region that has historically avoided direct action against Israel.
Across the Maghreb, dozens of activists and everyday citizens joined the fleet. While their names and faces may be less known than those of the Western participants on board, they are determined to put their lives at risk, motivated by both hope and despair, to reach Gaza and make a statement against the ongoing siege.
"As Arabs, as humans, we had to do something. We have been waiting for two years for the governments to do something," Ayoub Harbaoui, a Moroccan activist onboard, told The New Arab.
In Tunis, after several delays, parents wept and prayed as they waved goodbye to their children boarding the largest Gaza-bound aid fleet in history.
For many of them, it was a mix of pride and hope that the convoy would reach Gaza and reunite with the people they see every day pleading for help.
Participants have deliberately avoided discussing scenarios like the 2010 Mavi Marmara raid, responding to questions saying : "Fidaa Falasteen." (Everything is worth sacrificing for Palestine.)
Since March, Israel has sealed all crossings into Gaza, blocking food and medicine. Aid agencies warn the enclave's 2.4 million residents face a man-made famine.
Israeli forces intercepted two Freedom Flotilla vessels earlier this summer in international waters, detaining participants before deporting them.
The deadliest confrontation happened in 2010, when Israeli commandos killed at least nine Turkish activists aboard the Mavi Marmara.
Israel's National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has threatened to jail Sumud Flotilla's participants in "terrorist prisons."
The flotilla is expected to regroup near Malta before continuing toward Gaza. Whether they reach Gaza remains uncertain.