A ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists and humanitarian help provides is approaching the Gaza Strip, organizers mentioned Saturday, as they anticipated an Israeli army interception earlier than it will probably break the IDF’s maritime blockade of the besieged enclave.
The Handala set sail from Sicily earlier this month, weeks after Israel intercepted a special vessel that made a high-profile try to interrupt the blockade.
Handala is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which additionally dispatched the earlier boat, the Madleen, on a mission to problem Israel’s blockade on the Strip.
Organizers mentioned Handala was now round 100 nautical miles from Gaza’s shores, reportedly passing the purpose the place the Israeli Navy intercepted the Madleen.
In response to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s web site, the Handala is carrying 19 activists, together with two Jewish-People and two French politicians, in addition to two Al Jazeera journalists.
The group didn’t disclose the contents or amount of the humanitarian help aboard the ship.
In response to a number of activists aboard the Handala, the group determined that it will start a starvation strike instantly upon interception by the IDF.
“If the Israeli army assaults our vessel and prevents us from attending to Gaza, we are going to go on starvation strike instantly,” Huwaida Arraf mentioned in a social media submit on Friday.
“We’re not inquisitive about receiving any meals or water [from Israel…] and positively not within the ways in which they use it for propaganda, whereas on the identical time they’re ravenous to loss of life Palestinian kids,” she added.
Each member aboard the Handala Freedom Flotilla has pledged to go on starvation strike if Israel intercepts the ship. pic.twitter.com/gLutOKd06E
— Handala (@handala0) July 26, 2025
The IDF, in response to a question concerning the ship, mentioned it was “imposing the maritime safety blockade on the Gaza Strip and is ready for a variety of situations, which it is going to implement in accordance with the directives of the political echelon.”
The earlier ship launched by the Flotilla group, the Madleen, was intercepted by Israeli authorities on June 9, about 100 nautical miles (185 kilometers) west of Gaza’s coast, after it defied repeated warnings by Israel to show round.
Israel towed the boat to Ashdod Port and detained the 12 activists on board — together with local weather activist Greta Thunberg — earlier than deporting them over the next days. Jerusalem, which described the enterprise as a publicity stunt, mentioned the small quantity of help on that boat was then transferred to Gaza utilizing authorised overland channels.
Activists on the Madleen Gaza-bound help boat are being given sandwiches after the vessel was intercepted by Israeli forces in worldwide waters. (Screenshot/Israeli Overseas Ministry by way of AFP)
A number of different makes an attempt have been made through the years to strategy Gaza by sea, not all of which fared in addition to the Madleen.
In Might, a vessel dispatched by the Freedom Flotilla was attacked by two drones whereas crusing in worldwide waters off Malta. The group blamed Israel for the assault, which broken the entrance part of the ship. Israel didn’t touch upon the incident.
Previous makes an attempt to interrupt the blockade have additionally failed, most notably the Mavi Marmara incident of 2010, which noticed Israeli commandos board a Turkish-led flotilla sure for Gaza. The violence that ensued when these aboard the ship attacked the troopers resulted within the deaths of 10 activists and left a soldier badly wounded, sparking worldwide condemnation and a extreme diplomatic rift between Israel and Turkey.
Israel and Egypt have imposed various levels of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized energy from rival Palestinian forces in 2007 in a violent coup. Israel says it’s essential to restrict Hamas’s capability to smuggle in arms with which to assault the Jewish state. Critics of the blockade say it quantities to collective punishment of Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Piles of humanitarian help packages wait to be picked up on the Palestinian aspect of the Kerem Shalom crossing within the Gaza Strip, Thursday, July 24, 2025, throughout a media tour organized by the Israeli military. (AP Photograph/Ohad Zwigenberg, file)
Almost 60,000 Palestinians have been killed for the reason that begin of the warfare, in line with the Hamas-run Gaza well being ministry, which doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants.
In current weeks, because the humanitarian scenario has deteriorated severely, the ministry says at the very least 56 folks have died of causes associated to malnutrition in Gaza, together with 35 adults and 22 kids. That’s up from 10 kids who died from such causes throughout all 5 earlier months of 2025, in line with the ministry.
For his or her half, Israeli authorities continued to keep up on Friday that whereas the humanitarian scenario in Gaza is tough, there isn’t any widespread famine.
Companies contributed to this report.
