9 hours ago
Activist aid ship nears Gaza amid reports that Israeli forces plan to intercept vessel
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVISTS ABOARD a boat that is sailing to deliver aid to Gaza say they are over 300 kilometres from the besieged territory, amid reports that Israel is planning to block their route.
The Madleen, part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily last week with a cargo of relief supplies 'to break Israel's blockade on Gaza'.
There are twelve activists sailing on the ship, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
In an update on Instagram in the last hour, German human rights activist Yasemin Acar said they are 168 nautical miles (311 kilometres) from Gaza.
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A post shared by Yas (@yaseminacr_)
In another Instagram post, Thiago Avila, a Brazilian activist on board the Madleen, called on their supporters to demand their government to ensure the boat's safe passage.
'We carry all the aid we can. We carry food, medicine, crutches. We carry prosthetics for amputated children. We carry water filters and everything else we could but, of course, it's a drop in the ocean for the necessities of Gaza,' he said.
The best security measure we have is visibility. It is you sharing, you pressuring your nation states, pressuring your governments for them to pressure for a safe passage.
He said if a single military vessel from the US or Europe were to accompany their boat, it would 'severely diminish the risk of our mission to open a people's humanitarian corridor'.
Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.
Since 2 March, the country's aid blockade of the Palestinian enclave has resulted in the deaths of many children due to starvation.
More than 90% of the enclave's 2.3 million people are facing acute food shortages, according to aid groups.
MEP says Israel plans to seize boat
French-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan, who is on board the vessel, claimed in a post on X that the Israeli military plans to intercept and seize the ship by deploying missile boats and elite naval commandos.
She has urged governments to 'guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla.'
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The Times of Israel has reported that the Israeli Navy is expected to block the boat 'should the boat near Israel's territorial waters'. It quotes Israeli defense officials as saying that they are monitoring the boat's route.
The Israeli military has already said it is 'prepared to defend the citizens of the State of Israel on all fronts – in the north, the south, the centre and also in the maritime arena'.
Army spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin told a press conference last week that the navy 'operates day and night to protect Israel's maritime space and borders at sea'.
'For this case as well, we are prepared,' he said in response to a question about the Freedom Flotilla vessel, declining to go into detail.
l'armée israélienne prévoit d'intercepter et de saisir le navire en déployant des bateaux lance-missiles et des commandos d'élite de la marine Shayetet 13 (Shayetet 13 est la principale unité de commandos spéciaux de la marine israélienne, souvent comparée aux SEALs de la marine…
— Rima Hassan (@RimaHas)
June 8, 2025
'We have gained experience in recent years, and we will act accordingly.'
A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar aid flotilla trying to breach the blockade, left 10 civilians dead.
In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported coming under drone attack while en route for Gaza, prompting Cyprus and Malta to send rescue vessels in response to its distress call. There were no reports of any casualties.
Earlier in its voyage, the Madleen changed course near the Greek island of Crete after receiving a distress signal from a sinking migrant boat.
Activists rescued four Sudanese migrants who had jumped into the sea to avoid being returned to Libya. The four were later transferred to an EU Frontex vessel.
On Wednesday, one of the activists on the boat claimed the vessel
was being tightly tracked by Israeli overhead surveillance drones
.
Israel had said it was ready to 'protect' the country's maritime space.
Launched in 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a coalition of groups opposed to the blockade on humanitarian aid for Gaza that Israel imposed on 2 March and has only partially eased since.
Israel has faced mounting international condemnation over the resulting humanitarian crisis in the territory, where the United Nations has warned the entire population of more than two million is at risk of famine.
With reporting from
© AFP 2025
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