Nelson Mandela’s grandson has said Palestinians’ lives under Israeli occupation are worse than anything Black South Africans experienced under apartheid, and urged the global community to come to their aid.

Mandla Mandela, 51, spoke to Reuters at Johannesburg Airport, where he was boarding a flight to Tunisia to join a flotilla aiming to deliver food and humanitarian supplies to Gaza despite an Israeli naval blockade.

“Many of us that have visited the occupied territories in Palestine have only come back with one conclusion: that the Palestinians are experiencing a far worse form of apartheid than we ever experienced,” Mandela said.

“We believe that the global community has to continue supporting the Palestinians, just as they stood side-by-side with us.”