The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) launched another civilian aid boat to the besieged Gaza Strip on Sunday. The Handala departed Siracusa, Italy with a crew comprised of volunteer medics, lawyers, journalists, and activists. Last month, the FFC sent another humanitarian aid boat, the Madleen, to break Israel’s siege and bring life-saving aid supplies to the starving Palestinians suffering amidst Israel’s US-backed genocidal campaign.
The Madleen was illegally seized by the Israeli military in international waters and activists were subsequently deported. The crew onboard that vessel included the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian European Parliament member Rima Hassan.
A press release was issued by the FFC which states ”[the] Handala, our civilian aid boat, has officially… begun its journey to Gaza. This marks a bold step in our ongoing effort to challenge Israel’s illegal, deadly blockade of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The boat carries life-saving humanitarian aid and a message of solidarity from people around the world refusing to stay silent as Gaza is starved, bombed, and buried under rubble.”
The group describes the Israeli attack on the Madleen, stating “This mission comes just weeks after Israel’s illegal attack on the Madleen, another Freedom Flotilla boat, which was violently seized in international waters. Twelve unarmed civilians, including a Member of the European Parliament, a doctor, journalists, and human rights defenders, were abducted by Israeli commandos and taken against their will to Israel, where they were interrogated, abused, then deported.” The FFC statement strongly emphasizes “We are not backing down.”
According to the Times of Israel, 15 activists were aboard at the time of the Handala’s departure. The report notes that the former Norwegian trawler carrying medical and food supplies, as well as medicine and equipment specifically for the children of Gaza, will sail in the Mediterranean for roughly a week traversing some 1,120 nautical miles to the Strip.
The Handala will make a stop in Gallipoli, Italy to pick up two members of the French leftist La France Insoumise party. Gabrielle Cathala is one of the members who is expected to board the vessel this week. “This is a mission for the children in Gaza, to break the humanitarian blockade and to break the summer silence on the genocide,” she proclaimed.
“I hope we will reach Gaza but if not, it will be yet another violation of international law” by Israel, Cathala added. In May, an FFC vessel was targeted by two drones in an attack off the coast of Malta. The front section of the boat was damaged and the group blamed Israel. Tel Aviv made no comment. In 2010, Israeli commandos raid six Freedom Flotilla boats and murdered 10 activists.
The FFC press release also details the meaning behind the name Handala, explaining that it refers to “the Palestinian cartoon figure Handala, a barefoot refugee child who turned his back on injustice and vowed not to turn around until Palestine is free, this boat carries his spirit and that of every child in Gaza who has been denied safety, dignity, and joy. In 2023 and 2024, Handala sailed to ports around Europe and the UK, breaking through the media blockade, engaging the public, and building solidarity through press events, art installations, and political education in every port it visited.”
After a brief ceasefire period beginning in January, Israel reimposed its blockade on Gaza in March and began slaughtering Palestinian men, women, and children at a breathtaking pace. As Antiwar.com reports daily, during each 24-hour period Israel kills approximately 100 Palestinians.
This comes as a US and Israeli backed sham aid agency the “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” (GHF), staffed with US contractors, sets up distribution points where, on a regular basis, Palestinians are deliberately gunned down. Civilians are targeted by Israeli artillery, drones, snipers, and tanks. Credible reporting and whistleblower accounts have indicated that American contractors are joining in on the Israeli canned hunts of defenseless, starving Palestinians which they have callously deemed “Zombie hordes.”
At least 800 aid seeking Palestinians have been murdered and thousands more have been injured. Despite its bloody track record, the US State Department recently issued a $30 million grant to the GHF which Amnesty International has dubbed another “tool” in the Israeli genocidal war.
On the same day the Handala set sail for Gaza, UNICEF reported that over 5,800 children in Gaza had been diagnosed with malnutrition last month including approximately 1,000 severe cases.
In May, the Gaza Government Media Office reported that 300 Palestinians had died due to malnutrition and deprivation of medicine since Irael reimposed the blockade two months prior. Subsequently, the same week, Palestinian health authorities reported nearly 30 children and elderly Palestinians succumbed to malnutrition over a mere two days.
The FCC’s statement thusly concludes, “The children of Gaza, who make up over half the population, have been living under a brutal blockade and siege for their entire lives. Since October 2023, over 50,000 have been killed or injured, tens of thousands orphaned, and nearly a million forcibly displaced and homeless. All now face famine, disease, and trauma few of us can imagine. This mission is for them.”
