The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has launched its humanitarian mission towards Gaza, as the vessel Madleen set sail carrying urgently needed aid and a delegation of international human rights defenders.
According to a statement by the solidarity movement, the mission challenges Israel’s ongoing blockade on the Palestinian enclave, which the FFC describes as illegal and genocidal.
Named after Gaza’s first known fisherwoman, Madleen symbolises Palestinian resilience and global defiance against Israel’s policies of collective punishment.
The launch comes just a month after Israeli drones struck another FFC ship, Conscience, off Malta’s coast, highlighting both the risk and urgency of the voyage.
On board are volunteers from several countries, including Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan and climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Urgent supplies
The cargo includes baby formula, rice, medical supplies, water desalination kits, and prosthetics for children, items in critically short supply due to the blockade.
The flotilla is widely seen as continuing the legacy of the Mavi Marmara, a vessel raided by Israeli forces in 2010, resulting in the deaths of ten aid workers.
Unlike military interventions, the FFC frames its mission as peaceful civil resistance, with all crew trained in nonviolence and committed to unarmed solidarity.
The FFC urged world governments to ensure safe passage for Madleen and all aid missions, called on media to report the voyage accurately, and appealed to civil society to speak out for Gaza.
"Silence is complicity," said Hassan. “This ship carries not just supplies, but a message: end the blockade, end the genocide.”
