An aid ship with 12 activists on board, together with Swedish local weather campaigner Greta Thunberg, has reached the Egyptian coast and is nearing the besieged Palestinian territory, organisers mentioned on Saturday (June 7, 2025).
The Madleen, a part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Sicily final week with a cargo of aid provides “to break Israel’s blockade on Gaza”.
“We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast,” German human rights activist Yasemin Acar advised AFP. “We are all good,” she added.
In a press release from London on Saturday (June 7, 2025), the International Committee for Breaking the Siege of Gaza — a member organisation of the flotilla coalition — mentioned the ship had entered Egyptian waters.
The group mentioned it stays in touch with worldwide authorized and human rights our bodies to make sure the protection of these on board, warning that any interception would represent “a blatant violation of international humanitarian law”.
European parliament member Rima Hassan, who’s on board the vessel, urged governments to “guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla.”
The Palestinian territory was beneath Israeli naval blockade even earlier than the October 7, 2023 assault by Hamas that sparked the Gaza battle and Israel has enforced its blockade with navy motion prior to now.
At sea, a younger man raises the Palestinian flag from a pedal boat, accompanied by two smiling girls on June 01, 2025 in Catania, Italy. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is amongst those that will try to sail to Gaza on a ship organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), in a bid to interrupt Israelās blockade of the Palestinian territory.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
A 2010 commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was a part of an analogous aid flotilla attempting to breach the blockade, left 10 civilians useless.
In May, one other Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, reported coming beneath drone assault whereas en route for Gaza, prompting Cyprus and Malta to ship rescue vessels in response to its misery name. There had been no studies of any casualties.
Earlier in its voyage, the Madleen modified course close to the Greek island of Crete after receiving a misery sign from a sinking migrant boat.
Activists rescued 4 Sudanese migrants who had jumped into the ocean to keep away from being returned to Libya. The 4 had been later transferred to an EU Frontex vessel.
Launched in 2010, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a coalition of teams against the blockade on humanitarian aid for Gaza that Israel imposed on March 2 and has solely partially eased since.
Israel has confronted mounting worldwide condemnation over the ensuing humanitarian disaster within the territory, the place the United Nations has warned all the inhabitants of greater than two million is prone to famine.
Published – June 07, 2025 02:48 pm IST
