Tel Aviv has threatened that the Gaza Freedom Flotilla will not be allowed to approach the besieged coastal enclave, according to The Jerusalem Post. A civilian activist group is sailing a ship to Gaza as Israel continues its genocidal starvation campaign against the Palestinians there. For 80 days, Israel has imposed a mostly total blockade, only allowing a small trickle of humanitarian aid into the Strip last month. Since March, international aid organizations have been almost entirely prevented from providing desperately needed food, water, fuel, and medicine as Gaza’s remaining population is pushed closer to full-scale famine.
The civilian ship, the Madleen, will not be permitted to approach or dock in Gaza, a senior Israeli defense source told the Post. The report continued, “The official added that Defense Minister Israel Katz is expected to make further decisions in this regard on Thursday.” On Wednesday, the ship released a distress signal after drones were reportedly seen hovering around the vessel as the crew attempts their voyage from Sicily to Gaza. An IDF spokesperson said yesterday that Israel is prepared to militarily confront the vessel carrying baby formula, medicine, and food.
The “IDF is prepared to operate on all fronts, including in the maritime arena,” Brigadier General Effie Edfrin ominously warned reporters during a press conference, adding “we will act accordingly.” The spokesperson boasted, “We have gained experience in recent years.” On board the Madleen is the famous environmental activist turned peace activist Greta Thunberg.
In 2010, a total of ten Turkish activists were murdered by IDF on board a similar aid flotilla, with dozens more wounded. The activist groups, from multiple organizations, were seeking to break the siege and provide relief to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. All ten were hit with Israeli gunfire and nine were killed during the attack with one succumbing to their wounds during the aftermath.
A UN report found “the circumstances of the killing of at least six of the passengers were in a manner consistent with an extra-legal, arbitrary and summary execution.” Another boat, the Conscience, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) was attacked by drones off Malta last month.
“We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” Thunberg told reporters during a press conference before the Madleen’s departure. She added, “No matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocided.”
South Carolina’s GOP Senator Lindsey Graham posted a threat on X this Sunday implying he looks forward to the IDF attacking and sinking Thunberg along with the rest of the Madleen’s crew. Graham warned “Hope Greta and her friends can swim!” The Donald Trump administration has not threatened its client state, Israel, with any consequences for attacking the civilian activists.
Washington has lavished Tel Aviv with billions of dollars as well as 90,000 tons of weapons and other military equipment to keep the mass slaughter and strangulation campaign against the Palestinians ongoing since October 2023. Last October, almost a hundred American doctors, surgeons, nurses, and other medical professionals who volunteered to treat Palestinians in Gaza, during the Israeli killing spree, admonished the White House in an open letter that over 118,000 people had already been starved to death or violently killed.
On Monday, a group of UN experts called on Israel not to interfere with the Madleen’s voyage. “Aid is desperately needed for the people of Gaza to forestall annihilation, and this initiative is a symbolic and powerful effort to deliver it. Israel should remember that the world is watching closely and refrain from any act of hostility against the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and its passengers,” their press release said. “The people of Gaza have the right to receive aid through their own territorial waters even under occupation, and the coalition ship has the right to free passage in international waters to reach the people of Gaza… Israel must not interfere with its freedom of navigation, long recognized under international law,” the group added.
