Gaza aid flotilla used cameras, live feed to gain global attention

Social media campaign, grassroots efforts also helped movement win massive support

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When armed Israeli soldiers boarded a flotilla of boats trying to deliver food and medicine to Gaza on the night of Oct 1, two web developers in Glasgow scrambled to keep track of the vessels as millions of people worldwide tuned in to monitor their fate.

As grainy footage from onboard cameras broadcast the raids live on the flotilla's website, the developers updated the status of the vessels in real time and posted short videos of each takeover.

The clicks were unprecedented, they said: The site registered 2.5 million visits on Oct 1 and 3.5 million on Oct 2.

"I have never seen numbers like that - not on a website I've ever made," said Ms Lizzie Malcolm, the co-director of Rectangle, a design and software development studio that helped track the vessels on behalf of the organisers.

The Global Sumud Flotilla was seeking to breach an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, which has been decimated by a two-year Israeli assault.

It consisted of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.