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A sleepy Portland was just starting to stir when the fleet pushed off from East End Beach bearing flags of a distant land.

Once in rhythm, the kayakers, canoers and paddleboarders quickly pulled away from the small crowd of supporters they had left behind. But their chants followed the paddlers into the bay.

“Free free free Palestine!”

Some 50 demonstrators took to the sea Sunday morning to protest Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian people and to stand in solidarity with an international flotilla that hopes to arrive in Gaza with humanitarian aid later this week.

Since Hamas killed over 1,100 Israelis during a surprise terrorist attack nearly two years ago, Israel has waged a brutal war in Gaza, resulting in the deaths of more than 66,000 Palestinian men, women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. Israel’s tactics, which include blocking food and medical supplies from reaching the war zone, amount to genocide, a recent United Nations commission found.

Israeli leaders have long rejected accusations that the country is committing genocide.

As the conflict has stretched on and the body count has grown ever higher, the Maine Coalition for Palestine has tried to find ways to keep the crisis in Gaza from becoming background noise, an “over there problem,” organizer Erin Kiley said.

“We’ve protested. We’ve marched. We’ve rallied,” she said. “And none of it is moving the needle fast enough.”

Sunday’s flotilla was yet another attempt at disruption.

Fine weather made the trip to Fort Gorges a smooth one, even for the several members of the group who showed up to Portland Paddle with little experience on the ocean. Aside from a docking cruise ship, the bay mostly belonged to flotilla’s roughly 30 boats, including Frances, the 74-footer charter vessel operated by Maine Sailing Adventures.

Dozens of red, black and green Palestinian flags flapped in the wind, at least until weighed down by the spray of the waves.

Upon reaching their destination, the paddlers traded chants with a separate group of demonstrators perched atop the fort, which was dressed in massive banners reading, “Stop Arming Genocide.”

The great distance between the cohorts made it difficult to sync up their calls and responses. But eventually, they came together: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

Though some have criticized that expression as an antisemitic call for the extermination of Jewish people, Kiley said the chant is a call for freedom, not violence.

In a different ocean, halfway around the world, members of the Global Sumud Flotilla have had a more challenging journey. Comprised of 52 vessels carrying activists from dozens of countries, the flotilla hopes to break Israel’s longstanding blockade of Gaza and open a corridor for humanitarian aid, according to reporting from the Associated Press. But Israeli officials have made clear that they will not allow the group to land in Gaza.

“The real purpose of this flotilla is provocation and serving Hamas, certainly not humanitarian effort,” Israeli Foreign Ministry official Eden Bar Tal said.

The flotilla recently reported being attacked by drones off the coast of Greece. Spain and Italy have announced they are sending ships to aid the vessels.

One Portland demonstrator named Tanvi, who declined to share her last name for fear of online harassment, said she was thinking about the two people she knows aboard the Global Samud Flotilla while she was paddling the bay in a canoe on Sunday morning. Like many of those who gathered Sunday, she has spent years advocating for the Palestinian cause.

“We have, really, a profound responsibility,” she said. “As the genocide escalates, we continually need new and different ways to bring attention and to disrupt.

After a 90-minute round trip journey, the flotilla landed back on the sand of East End Beach, greeted by dozens more cheering demonstrators waiting with donuts, coffee and flags of their own.