Israel announced Monday plans to block a ship carrying international activists sailing toward the Gaza Strip in an effort to break the Israeli naval blockade amid a worsening humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing conflict.
According to Israel’s Army Radio, the navy is preparing for the arrival of the Gaza Flotilla vessel Madleen, which departed from Sicily en route to Gaza, aiming to challenge the blockade.
The ship’s 12-person crew includes Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham.
In a brief statement responding to requests for comment, the Israeli military said it “is enforcing the security maritime closure on Gaza and is preparing for a variety of scenarios,” without providing further details.
On Monday, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said in a statement that it “launched the Madleen, a civilian ship now sailing toward Gaza carrying humanitarian aid and international human rights defenders in direct defiance of Israel’s illegal and genocidal blockade.”
On board are volunteers from several countries, including French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan and Greta Thunberg, the statement added.
The ship, part of the coalition, is carrying urgently needed supplies for the people of Gaza, including baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches and children’s prosthetics.
The statement emphasized that “this is a peaceful act of civil resistance. All volunteers and crew aboard Madleen are trained in nonviolence.”
Speaking before the ship’s departure, Thunberg described the trip as a “symbolic civilian mission” aimed at breaking the siege.
“If there is even a shred of humanity left, we must fight for Palestine. I am here because it’s a duty,” she said.
The ship is expected to reach Gaza’s coastline in roughly a week, although it faces a high risk of interception by Israeli forces in international waters.
The voyage follows a similar attempt by the coalition in early May, when its vessel Conscience was attacked by Israeli drones in international waters. That strike caused a fire and tore a hole in the ship’s hull, according to flotilla sources.
The Gaza Media Office has accused Israel of using starvation as a tool to displace 2.4 million Palestinians in the enclave. According to the office, Israel has blocked humanitarian aid, especially food, by closing all border crossings since March 2.
Israel, rejecting international calls for a cease-fire, has pursued a devastating offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned of the risk of famine among the enclave’s more than 2 million inhabitants.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallan,t for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its alleged war crimes against civilians in the enclave.
