Another economic hit, blocking arms shipments, after China just halted their USrael investment???

Mediterranean dockworkers shut down over 20 ports in solidarity with Palestine
Strikers stated that this mobilization is just the start, cautioning that ‘today it’s the ports, tomorrow it will be the entire logistics sector’

News Desk
FEB 7, 2026

Dockworkers across the Mediterranean Sea staged a massive coordinated strike on 6 February, halting activity in more than 20 ports to protest the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the privatization and militarization of port infrastructure.

Union organizers described the action as the result of long-standing dockworker solidarity with Palestine and their own fight for dignified working conditions at home.

Ahead of the strike, ships that “regularly transport military cargo to Israel” altered their itineraries.

Demonstrations began in ports across Greece, Turkiye, and the Basque Country, where the Liman-İş Sendikası rallied hundreds of members to deliver a message “against genocide and in solidarity with Palestine.”

In Greece, dockworkers highlighted a contradiction between substantial European investment in rearmament and the austerity measures that cut public services, which they argued has compromised safety conditions.

Watch | Tonight, dockworkers and union supporters across Italy are taking action to halt arms shipments to Israel, staging rallies and sit-ins at key port areas.

Participants, waving Palestinian flags, are calling on Europe to stop facilitating military support for the… pic.twitter.com/HwvA8f2odU

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) February 6, 2026
“We won’t accept work without rights,” said Damianos Voudigaris of the Greek union ENEDEP. “Development should mean going home alive. Ports are places of work, not war. They are places of sweat, not blood.”

Dockworkers across 21 major ports in Europe and the Mediterranean shut down operations in a coordinated day of action. Under the call “Port Workers Do Not Work for War,”

They blocked arms shipments and demanded a full trade and arms embargo on Israel. pic.twitter.com/43Srp1pYE5

— The Resonance (@Partisan_12) February 7, 2026
Italy saw some of the largest mobilizations of the day, with coordinated strikes across more than a dozen ports involving dockworkers, port employees, students, and members of the public.

The Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) reported from all striking ports, with assemblies displaying Palestinian and Cuban flags.

USB representatives argued that Europe’s labor movement must adopt an internationalist orientation to confront the agenda of the EU and right-wing governments, including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's.

⛵️ Dockworkers in over 21 Mediterranean ports will be carrying out coordinated actions today (February 6) to block arms shipments bound for Israel. Unions and port workers in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Morocco, and the Basque Country are refusing to load, unload, or allow transit of… https://t.co/rpgvNzfpAe pic.twitter.com/zbFH75OkpI

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) February 6, 2026
Dockworkers in Trieste warned against privatization, while participants in Bari and Ravenna said port infrastructure was being used, “sometimes covertly,” to transport military and dual-use materials to Israel.

In Genoa, members of the collective CALP led one of the largest demonstrations of the day, declaring, “We promised to block everything – and we blocked everything. We promised a general strike – and we had a general strike. We promised an international strike – and here we are.”

Strikers said the mobilization was only the beginning, saying, “Today it’s the ports, tomorrow it will be the entire logistics sector, and then it will be all workers.”

The World Federation of Trade Unions endorsed the mobilization with a solidarity statement and adopted the official banner reading “Dockworkers Don’t Work for War.”

The massive strike came one day after the Global Sumud Flotilla announced a new civilian aid mission for Gaza set to depart on 29 March, with organizers outlining a renewed maritime voyage beginning in Barcelona and extending through multiple Mediterranean ports, alongside parallel land convoys toward the Rafah Border Crossing.

🚢 The Global Sumud Flotilla—the largest civilian mission to break Gaza’s siege—launches today, with 50+ ships from 44 countries. Drop Site editor Alex Colston is on board and will be reporting live as it sails from Barcelona toward Gaza. pic.twitter.com/tjMvOChJjf

— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) August 31, 2025

https://thecradle.co/articles-id/35833