New freedom flotilla vessel leaves for Gaza to defy Israeli blockade
A new freedom flotilla boat departed a port in southern Italy for Gaza on Sunday to “break Israel’s illegal blockade” on the Palestinian territory.
The Gaza-bound vessel is carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian aid supplies left Sicily, over a month after Israel detained international activists aboard a different vessel that had made a high-profile attempt to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip.
The Handala vessel, named after the iconic Palestinian child symbol of resistance, left the port of Syracuse shortly after 12 p.m., carrying about 15 activists. It is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which also dispatched the earlier boat, the Madleen, on a mission to challenge Israel’s blockade on the Strip.
Several dozen people, some holding Palestinian flags and others wearing keffiyeh scarves, gathered at the port to cheer the boat’s departure with cries of “Free Palestine.”
The former Norwegian trawler — which activists say is carrying medical supplies, food, children’s equipment and medicine for Gaza — will sail for about a week in the Mediterranean, covering roughly 1,800 kilometers (1,120 miles), in the hope of reaching Gaza’s coast.
The boat will make a stop at Gallipoli, in southeastern Italy, where two members of France’s hard-left La France Insoumise party are expected to join.
“This is a mission for the children in Gaza, to break the humanitarian blockade and to break the summer silence on the genocide,” said Gabrielle Cathala, one of the two La France Insoumise members set to board the boat on July 18.
“I hope we will reach Gaza but if not, it will be yet another violation of international law” by Israel, she claimed.
The initiative comes six weeks after the departure of the Madleen, another ship that left Italy for Gaza transporting aid and activists, including prominent climate activist Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian European Parliament member Rima Hassan.
Israeli forces attacked the Madleen on June 9, about 100 185 kilometers west of Gaza’s coast and detained the activists.