Activists from the United States traveled to Turkey with plans to join the flotilla.
[1][2][3] According to its organizers, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition included the İHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a conservative Turkish government-connected NGO, with which many participants were affiliated.
[6] Fehmi Bülent Yıldırım, the president of İHH, stated in a press briefing that the convoy, with ships from Turkey, Lebanon, and Libya, planned to initially dock at the Egyptian city of Arish before heading to Rafah.
Ynet reported that the initiative received the green light from Turkish authorities, with Turkey's intelligence chief involved in its arrangement.
Organizers said that the flotilla could not depart that day because Israel was pressuring Guinea-Bissau to withdraw the flag from one of the ships in the flotilla, and also stated that the United States, United Kingdom, and Germany were trying to pressure Turkey into not allowing the ship to depart.