Dock workers suspended operations at 113 ports across 22 nations this Friday, blocking an estimated $2.8 billion in cargo as part of a coordinated strike demanding an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and a halt to the use of maritime infrastructure for military logistics.

The action was driven by the collective No Harbour for Genocide. Organizers said the 24-hour work stoppage would freeze goods across Mediterranean ports and cut the supply lines that keep the war machine running.

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Unions from Türkiye, Morocco, Italy, France, Greece and Spain’s Basque Country issued a joint statement demanding an immediate end to Israel’s military siege, the opening of a humanitarian corridor and recognition of a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. They also rejected any support for military interventions in the Middle East.

“Ports must not be used to transport weapons, ammunition, military equipment or troops,” the unions said, while insisting that infrastructure should not serve as bases for NATO, United States or the European Union.

Cargo Rejected Everywhere

The intersyndical collective framed the strike as a blockade that governments have refused to impose. “A load rejected in one port continues on to the next. If it is rejected in all ports, the load stops,” they argued.

“Without us nothing moves. Without our hands, containers remain still, and the war machine is blocked,” the statement added.

The mobilization had multiple epicenters. In Italy, the USB and ORSA Porti unions paralyzed the docks of Genoa, Livorno, Trieste and Naples, extending the action into a general strike that disrupted transport and public services. Workers there oppose the rearmament drive led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government and reject austerity budgets.

In Greece, the ENEDEP union called a stoppage at the port of Piraeus and demanded collective agreements guaranteeing safety conditions. In France, the CGT FNPD led blockades in Marseille and Le Havre amid ongoing student protests.

In Spain, the LAB union organized demonstrations in Bilbao and Pasajes. In United States, rallies were announced at the ports of Elizabeth, New Jersey, Oakland and San Francisco.

In Türkiye and Morocco, the LIMAN-İŞ and ODT unions joined with assemblies at the dockside, where they demanded the rupture of treaties that allow logistical supply to Israel. The call echoes the Palestinian trade union movement’s appeal to block military shipments.

Genocide and Workers’ Demands

The strike unfolded as a recent UN report warned that Israeli authorities and forces continue committing genocidal acts in Gaza despite the October ceasefire agreement. The report details crimes including extermination, persecution and torture in the occupied territories.

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has left more than 74,555 people dead and 175,727 wounded, according to the figures cited by organizers.

The international action signals a widening labor front against the war. From the Mediterranean to the Pacific coast of the United States, the message from the docks was the same, that no cargo bound for the conflict should sail unchallenged.

Organizers described the strike as proof that workers hold direct power over the logistics of war. If the ports refuse the load, they said, the load stops, regardless of what governments decide.

The coordinated shutdown marks one of the broadest labor actions against Israel’s offensive since the genocide began, connecting dockers, students and unions across three continents in a single day of refusal.

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