A humanitarian aid ship, carrying 12 passengers, including Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing the war-torn and Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip, organizers announced on Saturday.
The vessel, named Madleen, a sailboat part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departed from Sicily on Sunday with the dual aim of delivering humanitarian aid and breaking the Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory, which the United Nations warns is facing starvation, AFP reports.
“We are currently sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told AFP, confirming that “everything is going well.”
A statement issued Saturday from London by the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza, a member organization of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, confirmed that the ship has entered Egyptian waters adjacent to Gaza. The committee added that they are in contact with international legal bodies to guarantee the safety of those on board, cautioning that any interception would constitute a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law.“
The war in Gaza was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Israel subsequently launched a devastating retaliatory offensive in Gaza, which it has kept under blockade since the beginning of the war, with the stated goals of taking control of the territory, destroying Hamas, and forcing the release of hostages taken on the day of the attack and brought into Gaza.
On Friday, the humanitarian ship diverted from its course to assist four Sudanese migrants at sea. At that time, the sailboat was in the Mediterranean Sea south of Greece and north of Libya and Egypt.
In addition to Greta Thunberg, French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan is also on board.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition was established in 2010 as an international non-violent solidarity movement with Palestinians, incorporating both a humanitarian dimension and political advocacy against the blockade of Gaza.
The ship is carrying juices, milk, rice, canned goods, and protein bars donated by hundreds of citizens of Catania, according to journalist Andrea Lignie, who is also on the vessel. Earlier in May, another Freedom Flotilla Coalition ship that was gathering supporters, including Greta Thunberg, in Malta before setting sail for Gaza, was damaged. Activists suspect the ship was damaged in an Israeli drone attack.
