Five days after climate activist Greta Thunberg set sail Sunday afternoon along with 11 other activists on a ship carrying aid to Gaza, the group could soon near Israeli waters.
Israeli officials have vowed not to allow the ship, called The Madleen, to dock. The country’s navy is reportedly preparing to rebuff the ship and, if necessary, arrest its passengers.
The group is carrying supplies for Gazan Palestinians and protesting what they say is “Israel’s “illegal, decades-long blockade, and ongoing genocide” in the enclave.
Their voyage is operated by the pro-Palestinian nonprofit Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which has staged other naval efforts to reach Gaza by sea over the last 15 years. The latest trip, which departed from Sicily and detoured to pick up Sudanese refugees, comes as the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza turns 20 months old and includes Thunberg, one of the most prominent progressive activists in the world.
Here’s what you need to know in advance of a possible showdown on the high seas.
Why have the activists undertaken their voyage and what are people saying about them?
The trip comes amid widespread criticism of Israel’s handling of aid to Gaza, where 2 million Palestinians live and where Israel has been fighting Hamas, the governing authority, since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered “basic aid” to enter Gaza last month amid growing concerns about starvation following Israel’s months-long aid blockade. Since Netanyahu’s announcement, aid distribution in Gaza has since faced multiple setbacks, including deadly shootings at aid distribution sites.
According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the Madleen is carrying baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches and children’s prosthetics.
“We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying,” Thunberg said during a press conference ahead of the voyage.
“Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” she continued. “And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s not even near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide.”
London has so far rejected requests by Israel to deter the Madleen, which is flying under a U.K. flag, from approaching Israeli waters, according to the Times of Israel. Last month, the leaders of France and the United Kingdom issued statements condemning Israel’s blockade on aid to Gaza and continued offensive and vowing to take “concrete actions” if they continue.
The group has drawn support from pro-Palestinian advocates around the world. The human rights group Amnesty International, for example, called the voyage “an important solidarity initiative that will help to keep the spotlight on Israel’s illegal and suffocating blockade of the occupied Gaza Strip amidst its ongoing genocide.”
But critics of the group have pilloried them for engaging in performative activism that is unlikely to achieve any results for Palestinian civilians. An Israeli official reportedly referred to the Madleen as the “selfie flotilla,” for example. It has also added to concerns over whether Thunberg’s increasing focus on Israel is distracting from her leadership on climate change.
Thunberg has sparred with her critics. After Sen. Lindsay Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, tweeted, “Hope Greta and her friends can swim!” Thunberg said on the progressive radio show “Democracy Now,” “We can swim very well.”
What is the Freedom Flotilla Coalition?
Following two successful independent voyages that reached Gaza in 2008, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was founded in 2010 to protest Israel’s blockade of Gaza. It operates a small fleet of ships that have tried — but rarely if ever succeeded — to bring aid and supplies by sea to the Gaza Strip.
In the group’s first mission, in 2010, a Turkish flotilla ship called the “Mavi Marmara” was raided by the Israeli military during an aid mission and nine people on board were killed.
Subsequent efforts in past years were intercepted and their passengers were detained and deported.
Last month, one of the ships in the group’s fleet, the “Conscience,” was hit by two alleged drones just outside of Malta’s territorial waters. The group accused Israel of perpetrating the attacks. Israel has declined to comment.
An Israeli cargo aircraft reportedly flew at a relatively low altitude over eastern Malta several hours before the reported attack, according to flight data reviewed by CNN. The IDF declined to comment to CNN about the flight data.
Thunberg told USA Today that she was supposed to be on the Conscience voyage but had stayed behind.
Who is on board the Madleen?
Including Thunberg, there are 12 activists and journalists on board the Madleen, which is named for what the group says is Gaza’s only female professional fisherwoman. Among them is Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament. Hassan is of Palestinian descent and was barred from entering Israel in February due to her active opposition to the conflict in Gaza and support for the BDS movement.
Others on board the Madleen come from at least half a dozen countries, according to a press release from the FFC. They include:
- Yasemin Acar, a German pro-Palestinian activist.
- Baptiste Andre, a physician from France.
- Thiago Avila, an activist from Brazil.
- Omar Faiad, an Al Jazeera correspondent.
- Pascal Maurieras, a French activist.
- Yanis Mhamdi, a journalist-director at Blast, a French independent media outlet.
- Şuayb Ordu, a Turkish activist.
- Reva Viard, an activist from France.
- Sergio Toribio, a crew member from Spain.
- Marco Van Rennes, a crew member from The Netherlands.
“Game of Thrones” actor Liam Cunningham was among the crowd of spectators who gathered in solidarity with the crew of the Madleen to bid them farewell in Catania, Sicily.
“Governments are not standing up for what their legal obligations are under international law, so it takes a disparate group like this to try and achieve it,” said Cunningham in a post on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla’s Instagram account. “Anybody who was fearful of using the word genocide, that’s gone now.”
What could happen over the weekend?
If it is not intercepted, the Madleen could reach Gaza sometime over the weekend, according to a post on X early Friday morning by the International Committee to Break the Siege which was reposted by FFC.
“We’re on our way to Gaza — expected to arrive in about 48 hours,” the post read. “These next hours are critical. Your voice is our protection. Let apartheid Israel know: the world is watching. Your silence gives them cover. Don’t stay silent.”
But the IDF has said it does not intend to allow the ship to dock. The army told the Times of Israel that it is “enforcing the maritime security blockade on the Gaza Strip, and is prepared and ready for a wide range of scenarios that it will handle in accordance with the political echelon’s guidelines.”
The Jerusalem Post reported that military officials said the ship will be warned not to enter the area, and if they defy orders, the IDF may take over the ship and arrest them. The protesters would then be transferred to the Ashdod port and deported, according to officials.
The “IDF is prepared to operate on all fronts, including in the maritime arena,” a spokesman, Effie Defrin, said this week. He added, “We will act accordingly.”
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