A flotilla carrying humanitarian aid and activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, is due to leave from Barcelona on Sunday to try to “break the illegal siege of Gaza”, organisers said.

The vessels will set off from the Spanish port city to “open a humanitarian corridor and end the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people”, said the Global Sumud Flotilla.

They did not say how many ships would set sail or the exact time of departure.

The flotilla is expected to arrive at the war-ravaged coastal enclave in mid-September.

“This will be the largest solidarity mission in history, with more people and more boats than all previous attempts combined,” Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila told journalists in Barcelona last week.

Organisers say that dozens of other vessels are expected to leave Tunisian and other Mediterranean ports on 4 September.

Activists will also stage simultaneous demonstrations and other protests in 44 countries “in solidarity with the Palestinian people”, Thunberg, who is part of the flotilla’s steering committee, wrote on Instagram.

As well as Thunberg, the flotilla will include activists from several countries, European lawmakers and public figures such as former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau.

“We understand that this is a legal mission under international law,” leftwing Portuguese lawmaker Mariana Mortágua, who will join the mission, told journalists in Lisbon last week.

Israel has already blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July.

In June, 12 activists on board the sailboat Madleen were intercepted by Israeli forces 185km west of Gaza. Its passengers, who included Thunberg, were detained and eventually expelled.

In July, 21 activists from 10 countries were intercepted as they tried to approach Gaza in another vessel, the Handala.

The winning numbers for the $1 billion Powerball jackpot were drawn Saturday night.

The numbers are: 3, 18, 22, 27 and 33 and the red Powerball 17.

After nearly three months without a grand-prize winner, the dream of becoming America’s next billionaire sent ticket sales soaring across the nation ahead of the Labor Day weekend drawing.

Game officials increased the jackpot estimate Friday morning from $950 million after reviewing national ticket sales, Powerball said. The winner could opt for a cash payment of $453.1 million before taxes.

The game hasn’t seen a jackpot winner since May 31, when a California player claimed a $204.5 million prize. During this 39-drawing streak, the game has created 62 million-dollar winners and 608 tickets worth $50,000 or more.

The previous drawing on Wednesday saw six tickets match all five white balls — 9, 12, 22, 41 and 61 — with red Powerball 25, each winning $1 million or more.

Winners of Saturday’s jackpot can choose between annual payments or the lump sum. The annuity option provides one immediate payment followed by 29 annual payments that increase by 5% each year.

Powerball tickets cost $2 per play and are sold in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, while the overall odds of winning any prize are 1 in 24.9.

The game has generated more than $36 billion for good causes supported by U.S. lotteries since its first drawing in 1992, Powerball noted. More than half of ticket sale proceeds remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was sold, according to Powerball.

The current jackpot ranks sixth among Powerball’s largest prizes. The record stands at $2.04 billion, won by a California player in November 2022, followed by the $1.765 billion prize claimed in California in October 2023.

Other notable jackpots include the $1.586 billion split among winners in California, Florida and Tennessee in January 2016, the $1.326 billion won in Oregon in April 2024, and the $1.08 billion claimed in California in July 2023.