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FREEDOM FLOTILLA SETS SAIL FOR GAZA CARRYING AID AND DEMANDS: ‘END
THE BLOCKADE. END THE GENOCIDE’  
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Brett Wilkins
June 2, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ "No matter how dangerous this mission is, it's nowhere near as
dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the
live-streamed genocide," said climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is
aboard the Madleen. _

Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks with the media ahead of the
boat's departure from Italy. , (AP: Salvatore Cavalli)

 

A dozen Palestine
[[link removed]] defenders including
climate campaigner Greta Thunberg
[[link removed]] and a French
lawmaker set sail from Sicily
[[link removed]] on
Sunday aboard a boat carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza
[[link removed]], many of whom are starving
amid Israel's ongoing U.S.-backed genocidal assault and siege and
decadeslong naval blockade of the coastal enclave.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said it launched the
sailboat _Madleen_—named after Gaza's first and only known
fisherwoman [[link removed]]—from Catania, Italy at
4:00 pm local time Sunday "in direct defiance of Israel's illegal and
genocidal blockade."

"_Madleen_ symbolizes the unyielding spirit of Palestinian resilience
and the growing global resistance to Israel's use of collective
punishment and deliberate starvation policies," FFC said in
a statement
[[link removed]] Sunday.
"The ship is carrying urgently needed supplies for the people of Gaza,
including baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women's sanitary
products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and
children's prosthetics."

The international volunteers aboard _Madleen_ include Thunberg,
French Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan
[[link removed]],
German refugee advocate and FFC steering committee member Yasemin
Acar [[link removed]], Brazilian FFC
steering committee member Thiago Ávila
[[link removed]], _Al
Jazeera_ reporter Omar Fayad, French doctor Baptiste Andre, French
journalist Yanis M'Hamdi, Turkish engineer Şuayb Ordu, and crew
members Mark Van Rennes, Reva Seifert Viard, Pascal Maurieras, and
Sergio Toribio.

"I am aboard _Madleen_ because silence is not neutrality—it is
complicity," said Hassan, who is banned from entering Israel
[[link removed]] due to her outspoken
support for Palestinian rights. "The Palestinian people in Gaza are
being starved and slaughtered, and the world watches. This ship is not
just carrying aid, it is carrying a demand: End the blockade. End the
genocide."

Thunberg said that "we are seeing a systematic starvation of 2 million
people. The world cannot be silent bystanders, Every single one of us
has a moral obligation to do everything we can to fight for a free
Palestine."

The _Madleen_'s launch came a month after the _Conscience_, another
FCC aid vessel traveling in international waters off Malta,
was attacked
[[link removed]] twice,
presumably by Israeli forces. No one was harmed in what FFC said was a
drone strike on the ship. However, the activists were forced to abort
their humanitarian mission. Israel has not commented on the incident.

_Madleen_ also set sail nearly 15 years to the day after Israeli
forces raided
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Gaza Freedom Flotilla convoy carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged
people of Gaza. The attack—which also came in international
waters—left nine people including Turkish-American teenager Furkan
Doğan
[[link removed]] dead.

FFC said Sunday that the "unarmed and nonviolent" mission "poses no
threat" and "sails in full accordance with international law. Any
attack or interference will be a deliberate, unlawful assault on
civilians."

Those aboard the _Madleen_ said they were aware of the dangers they
faced. Israel has killed
[[link removed]] numerous Western
activists and journalists
[[link removed]] who document
its human rights violations over the years, and just last month
Israeli troops opened fire
[[link removed]] on a
group of international diplomats visiting the illegally occupied West
Bank two days after three involved countries issued an ultimatum to
stop annihilating Gaza.

"We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we
have to keep trying," a tearful Thunberg said
[[link removed]] during a Sunday
press conference. "Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose
our humanity."

"And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it's nowhere near as
dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the
live-streamed genocide," she added.

Some Israelis and their supporters took to social media to wish harm
upon the activists. In the United States, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)
alluded to past Israeli attacks on Gaza aid flotillas in a social
media post
[[link removed]] saying,
"Hope Greta and her friends can swim!"

Israel strongly refutes allegations that it is committing genocide in
Gaza. South Africa has filed, and dozens of nations support,
a genocide case
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Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The International Criminal Court, also located in the Dutch city,
has issued arrest warrants
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former
defense minister, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity,
including extermination and starvation as a weapon of war, in Gaza.

Officials in Gaza say that more than 192,000 Palestinians have been
killed or injured since Israel launched its assault and siege
following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, a figure that
includes at least 14,000 people who are missing and presumed dead and
buried beneath rubble and hundreds of mostly children who have died
[[link removed]] from
acute malnutrition and lack of medical care.

Around 2 million Gazans have also been forcibly displaced, often
multiple times, amid Israel's campaign
[[link removed]] to
starve, conquer, indefinitely occupy, ethnically cleanse, and possibly
recolonize the coastal strip.

Each side accuses the other of thwarting cease-fire efforts. On
Saturday, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff rejected
[[link removed]] what
he called Hamas' "totally unacceptable" proposal for a truce in which
10 living and 18 dead Israeli hostages would be exchanged for an
unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy told
[[link removed]]_Democracy
Now!_ on Monday that a cease-fire proposal mediated by Witkoff is "a
bad deal for the Palestinians that will allow Israel to continue its
ethnic cleansing of Gaza" and "walks back the commitment for a
permanent cease-fire, Israeli withdrawal, and allowing in of
humanitarian aid."

Critics accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war in order to delay his
own criminal corruption trial
[[link removed]].

_Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams._

* Freedom Flotilla
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* Ship to Gaza
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* Greta Thunberg
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