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The mission of the Conscience and 1,000 Madleens will continue citizens spotlighting the continuing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank.
In the past three months, citizens around the world have participated in dramatic challenges to the horrific Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza with over 66,000 known dead and at least 100,000 souls under the rubble, most of whom are women and children.
The genocide includes the destruction of virtually all food and food distribution systems, hospitals and clinics, schools and universities, water and sanitation facilities, and a huge amount of the housing for 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.
For the past 18 years, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) has used ships to attempt to carry citizens from all over the world to Gaza in a nonviolent challenge to the genocidal violence of the Israeli government and the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
In the past five months, since May 2025, the FFC has launched four missions. In May 2025, the FFC attempted to launch the Conscience ship in Malta, but the Israeli forces bombed the vessel hours before participants were to board the ship. In June 2025 the FFC sent the Madleen sailboat with 12 persons onboard that were arrested and kidnapped in international waters, imprisoned, and deported. In July 2025, the FFC launched the motor vessel Handala with 22 persons onboard. They too were arrested and kidnapped in international waters, imprisoned, and deported.
In August 2025, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition was joined in its mission of challenging the increasing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the illegal Israeli naval and land blockade of Gaza by the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF).
On August 31, 2025, the Global Sumud Flotilla launched 22 boats from Barcelona and were joined by about 10 boats from Tunisia, where two boats were hit by incendiary devices dropped from drones; 14 boats from Italy; and six boats from Greece for a total of around 50 ships challenging the illegal naval blockade of Gaza. The GSF had participants from 47 countries.
After sailing almost one month with delays due to weather and mechanical issues of the boats, the Global Sumud Flotilla was intercepted in the early morning hours of October 2, 2025. One vessel, the Mikeno, was able to enter the territorial waters of Gaza, the first boat to do so since 2008 when the Free Gaza Movement sailed five boats into Gaza. 462 participants on 39 boats were arrested and kidnapped in international waters, imprisoned, and, as of this writing, are awaiting deportation.
The first groups of the 462 persons from the Global Sumud Flotilla who were arrested, taken hostage, and then deported were four members of the Italian Parliament on October 3.
The second group of 137 persons from GSF were flown in a Turkish flight to Istanbul in the late afternoon of October 4, including 36 from Turkiye and 101 from other countries: Italy (26), Malaysia (23), Tunisia (10), Switzerland (9), UK (9), Libya (7), Algeria (6), Morocco (4), Kuwait (4), Jordan (2), Bahrain (1), Mauritania (1), and the US.
As the Global Sumud Flotilla was sailing to Gaza, in late September 2025, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition launched a second wave of flotilla ships to challenge the Israeli genocide of Gaza and to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
The Conscience, which had been repaired from the May 2025 bombing off Malta, left from Otranto, Italy on September 30, 2025 with a mission of bringing medical personnel and journalists to Gaza. The Conscience has onboard 92 participants from 22 countries. The countries represented on the Conscience are: Algeria (1), Australia (1), Azerbaijan (2), Bangladesh (1), Belgium (4), Canada (6), Denmark (3), Finland (1), France (7), Germany (6), Iceland (1), Ireland (3) * (one is Irish and Jordanian), Israel (2), Italy (6), Malaysia (9), New Zealand (1), Norway (2) *(one is Norwegian and Iranian), Spain (5), Tunisia (1), Turkiye (9), UK (2)* (one is British and Jordanian ), USA (8).
As a part of the second flotilla wave, the new organization Thousand Madleens launched seven sailboats on September 27 from Catania, Sicily, Italy with a total of 52 participants from 15 countries: Ireland (2), Denmark (4), Malaysia (1), Spain (2), Belgium (4), Germany (1), Switzerland (1), Italy (4), France (25), Greece (1), USA (4), UK (1), South Korea (1). Five sailboats were from the French campaign, and two sailboats were from the Danish campaign.
The Italian campaign of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition sailed two sailboats with a total of 12 Italian participants from Otranto, Italy on September 26, 2025.
The Gaza flotilla initiatives have received support from Foreign Ministers of 16 countries; the President of Colombia Gustavo Petro; United Nations experts including the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese; and Members of Parliament in Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Turkiye.
Naval vessels dispatched from Italy, Spain, and Turkiye to "ensure the safety of their citizens" retreated as the flotilla reached closer to Gaza. None of the nations stopped the Israeli navy from kidnapping, arresting, and imprisoning their citizens in international waters.
The many boats and the kidnapping, arrest, and imprisonment of the many participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla have created big mobilizations of citizens all over the world to emphasize how their governments are complicit in the Israeli genocide of Gaza.
The mission of the Conscience and 1,000 Madleens will continue citizens spotlighting the continuing Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank.
Citizens around the world can track the progress of the Conscience, the 1,000 Madleens, and the boats from Italy through the FFC tracker: https://freedomflotilla.org/ffc-tmtg-conscience-tracker/
One can observe life on the ship Conscience through this live feed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FJIGo3hNoY
"As journalists and medical professionals, we carry the responsibility to speak truth and preserve life," said an Italian surgeon.
As Israeli forces on Friday captured the last remaining vessel from the Global Sumud Flotilla that aimed to break Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip and deliver humanitarian aid, another group of boats was headed for the Palestinian territory.
The 11 vessels, most of which started sailing last week, are "carrying over 150 healthcare workers, journalists, and activists," according to organizers, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens to Gaza.
"As journalists and medical professionals, we carry the responsibility to speak truth and preserve life," said Dr. Ricardo Corradini, a general surgeon from Italy, in a statement. "This mission is an appeal to our colleagues—and to the institutions that represent us globally—to break their silence, uphold their ethics, and stand on the right side of history."
FFC highlighted earlier this week that the ship "Conscience, bombed by Israel off the coast of Malta in May 2025, has returned to serve as a vehicle for medics and media determined to reach their colleagues in besieged Gaza."
Huwaida Arraf, an FFC steering committee member aboard Conscience, said that it "is the latest and largest boat in this historic flotilla—and its name represents not only steadfast resistance to Israel's illegal blockade, but a call to awaken the conscience of the world."
Since Israeli forces began intercepting Global Sumud Flotilla vessels late Wednesday, a fresh wave of global protests has occurred. People around the world have repeatedly taken to the streets over the past two years, as Israel has responded to the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack by devastating infrastructure across Gaza, including healthcare facilities, wounding at least 169,165 Palestinians, and slaughtering at least 66,288.
Experts warn the true death toll in Gaza is likely much higher. Among the dead are many doctors and nurses—one count, from Healthcare Workers Watch, said at least 1,200 as of February. Israel's killing of Gaza's healthcare professionals continued this week with the death of Omar Hayek from Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
The Israeli attack that killed Hayek and wounded four others "took place on a street where our teams were waiting to take a bus to the MSF field hospital in Deir al-Balah. All staff were wearing MSF vests, clearly identifying them as medical humanitarian workers," the group said Thursday. "We express deep sorrow and outrage over the killing, which occurs less than two weeks after another MSF colleague, Hussein Alnajjar, was killed by the Israeli forces, in Deir al-Balah."
Also among the dead are over 200 journalists, with recent tallies ranging from 223 to 270. The Israeli government has prevented international reporters from entering Gaza—and has been widely accused of intentionally killing Palestinian journalists who have reported on the genocide while trying to survive it.
Global press freedom groups have frequently spoken out against Irsael's treatment of journalists, including this week, when Israeli forces took members of the media into custody while blocking the Global Sumud Flotilla from reaching Gaza.
"Arresting journalists and preventing them from doing their work is a serious violation of the right to inform and be informed," said Martin Roux, head of the Crisis Desk at Reporters Without Borders, or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), in a Thursday statement.
"RSF condemns the illegal arrest of the news professionals who were on board these ships to cover a humanitarian operation of unprecedented scale," Roux continued. "The Israeli army, which has killed over 210 Palestinian journalists in the Gaza Strip, is continuing its media blockade of the Gaza Strip with these illegal arrests at sea, with the obvious goal of covering up the crimes it is committing against the Palestinian population. RSF urges Israel to respect the status of journalists, protect them, and guarantee their safety in accordance with international law."
Early Friday, the flotilla announced on Instagram that "Marinette, the last remaining boat of the Global Sumud Flotilla, was intercepted at 10:29 am local time, approximately 42.5 nautical miles from Gaza."
According to the flotilla, whose more than 450 members included politicians, actors, and activists from dozens of countries:
Over 38 hours, Israeli occupation naval forces illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels—each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza.
Marinette sailed forward with the spirit of sumud—steadfastness—even after seeing the fate of 41 boats before her.
But this is not the end of our mission. Our determination to confront Israel’s atrocities and stand with the Palestinian people remains unshaken.
As people rise up in cities worldwide to demand an end to these horrors and to take a stand for humanity, we rise together with one voice.
We will not stop until the genocide ends. We will not stop until Palestine is free.
Until the interception, the flotilla faced repeated attacks widely believed to be from Israel, whose Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday continued to smear the peaceful humanitarian mission as the "Hamas-Sumud provocation" and a "sham."
"Already four Italian citizens have been deported. The rest are in the process of being deported. Israel is keen to end this procedure as quickly as possible," the ministry said on social media. "All are safe and in good health."
In a Friday statement about the Global Sumud Flotilla, Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim civil rights group in the United States, said that "the detention of these humanitarian volunteers, including American citizens, is deeply troubling and completely unacceptable."
"These are civilians engaged in delivering essential aid to people in desperate need in Gaza," he continued. "Denying them legal counsel, holding them incommunicado, and putting them at risk for simply performing humanitarian work is a flagrant violation of human rights and the principles the United States stands for. We urge the US government to act immediately to secure their safe release and make clear that targeting Americans performing humanitarian missions will not be tolerated."
Under President Donald Trump and his Democratic predecessor, the United States has provided Israel with diplomatic support on the global stage and billions of dollars in military aid. Joined at the White House on Monday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who is wanted by the International Criminal Court—Trump unveiled a proposed peace plan for Gaza.
In a long post on his Truth Social platform Friday morning, Trump railed against Hamas and gave the group that has governed Gaza for the past two decades until Sunday at 6:00 pm Eastern Time to agree to his proposal. Trump wrote, "If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas."
The countries' foreign ministers urged Israel to "refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla" and "to respect international law."
The foreign ministers of 16 nations on Tuesday implored Israel to not attack the Global Sumud Flotilla, a fleet of around 40 boats attempting to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to the embattled Gaza Strip, where Palestinians are suffering 22 months of US-backed genocidal war and forced famine.
"The Global Sumud Flotilla has informed about its objective of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and raising awareness about the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and the need to stop the war in Gaza," the foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, and Türkiye said in a joint statement.
Many of those nations are supporting South Africa's genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice.
"We therefore call on everyone to refrain from any unlawful or violent act against the flotilla" and "to respect international law and international humanitarian law," the ministers continued. "We recall that any violation of international law and human rights of the participants in the flotilla, including attacks against the vessels in international waters or illegal detention, will lead to accountability."
Hundreds of activists from dozens of nations participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla—"sumud" means perseverance in Arabic—have set sail toward Gaza from ports around the world since August. More than two dozen vessels arrived in Sicily on Tuesday after departing the Tunisian port of Bizerte following an 11-day delay caused in part by multiple drone attacks on flotilla boats.
Israel—which has attacked past flotillas, including in a 2010 raid that killed nine volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, among them Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan—has not claimed responsibility for the drone attacks.
“Pulling off the largest grassroots maritime mission to break Israel’s siege has posed many challenges, but through it all we remained determined, steadfast, and united,” Global Sumud Flotilla said Tuesday on Instagram.
Prominent flotilla participants include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, American actress Susan Sarandon, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, leftist Portuguese parliamentarian Mariana Mortágua, former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, and Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
“We’re carrying a lot of humanitarian aid, but we’re also carrying a message of support from the peoples of the world that we are with the Palestinian people,” flotilla spokesperson Bruno Gilga told Middle East Eye.
Earlier this year, Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessels Conscience, Madleen, and Handala each separately tried to break Israel's blockade of Gaza but were thwarted by Israeli forces in international waters, an apparent violation of maritime law. Flotilla activists were beaten, kidnapped, jailed, interrogated, and deported by Israel.
Global Sumud Flotilla's attempt to break Israel's siege comes as Israeli forces push deeper into Gaza City as they execute Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign to conquer, occupy, and ethnically cleanse the strip. At least 64,964 Palestinians—mostly civilian men, women, and children—have been killed by Israeli forces over the past 711 days, although experts say the actual toll is likely far higher.
On Tuesday, a commission of independent United Nations experts became the latest in a growing number of individuals and groups to accuse Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
"Our boats carry more than aid. They carry a message—the siege must end. The greater danger lies not in confronting Israel at sea, but in allowing genocide to continue with impunity."
Palestine defenders are preparing for the latest—and largest—Freedom Flotilla Coalition mission to set sail for Gaza in an attempt to break Israel's US-backed genocidal siege on the embattled Palestinian territory.
Dozens of boats carrying hundreds of activists from as many as 44 nations are set to take part in the Global Sumud Flotilla—sumud means "perseverance" in Arabic—as it attempts to run Israel's naval blockade and deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid including food, medicines, and baby formula to the starving people of Gaza.
"We are a coalition of everyday people—organizers, humanitarians, doctors, artists, clergy, lawyers, and seafarers—who believe in human dignity and the power of nonviolent action," Global Sumud Flotilla's website explains.
In addition to "everyday people," flotilla participants include Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, American actress Susan Sarandon, Irish actor Liam Cunningham, leftist Portuguese parliamentarian Mariana Mortágua, former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, and Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela.
Israel "is starving and killing the people of Gaza," Mandela—whose grandfather was not only a hero of his country's anti-apartheid struggle but also a staunch supporter of Palestinian liberation—said Friday on behalf of the South African flotilla delegation. "We are a diverse group of international activists calling for urgent global action to compel Israel to open Gaza's borders to aid and end its genocide of the Palestinian people."
"We ask that South Africans of conscience join us," he added. South Africa is leading an ongoing genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that is officially or informally supported by around two dozen nations.
Colau said earlier this week that "to end the genocide in Gaza is the duty of all of us, so we have to do what is in our power to do it if governments, including the government of Spain, do not do what they can to stop the criminal state of Israel."
Spain has joined the ICJ genocide case against Israel, has formally recognized Palestinian statehood and urged other nations to do so, and has taken significant steps toward an arms embargo on Israel.
"Although Spain has positioned itself more than other governments and recognized the Palestinian state, words are not enough when thousands of children are being killed," Colau said Friday in an interview with RTE.
At least 18,500 children are among the more than 63,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023—although the official Gaza Health Ministry figures are likely a vast undercount, according to peer-reviewed studies.
"This is my third attempt to try to sail with humanitarian aid to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza and open up a humanitarian corridor," Thunberg, who is a member of the flotilla steering committee, told Middle East Eye Thursday.
"There have been 38 previous attempts just for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and now with the Global Sumud Flotilla," Thunberg continued. "This is unprecedented. We are mobilizing people from all over the world with dozens of boats sailing from Barcelona first, and then more boats joining us from other ports around the Mediterranean Sea."
"We are doing this because we are facing a genocide," she added. "We are seeing people being deliberately deprived of their basic means to sustain life. And this is a continuation of the suffocating oppression that Palestinians have been living under for decades, and we simply have no choice if we have any sense of humanity left, we cannot just sit by and watch this unfolding."
The Gaza Famine—officially declared last week by the authoritative Integrated Food Security Phase Classification—has claimed at least hundreds of Palestinian lives in what experts say is an engineered effort by Israel. The International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who ordered the "complete siege" on Gaza fueling the famine, list forced starvation, along with murder, as alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by the pair.
Earlier this year, the FFC vessels Conscience, Madleen, and Handala each separately tried to break the blockade but were thwarted by Israeli forces in international waters, an apparent violation of maritime law. Flotilla activists were beaten, kidnapped, jailed, interrogated, and deported by Israel.
Fifteen years ago, Israeli forces raided one of the first FFC convoys carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Israeli attackers killed nine volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.
The Sumud Flotilla comes as Israeli forces ramp up Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign of conquest, occupation, and ethnic cleansing of Gaza backed by the administration of US President Donald Trump. On Thursday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich proposed the systematic annexation of Gaza over the coming months if Hamas keeps fighting, as well as the implementation of Trump's plan to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian exclave and transform it into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Israel's siege of Gaza has been in effect in varying degrees of severity since 2006 in response to Hamas' rise to power in the strip.
"The idea is to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger," a senior adviser to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said at the time.
Now Palestinians are dying of hunger, and the world has increasingly had enough.
"Our boats carry more than aid," Global Sumud Flotilla said. "They carry a message—the siege must end. The greater danger lies not in confronting Israel at sea, but in allowing genocide to continue with impunity."
Flotilla members said labor organizer Chris Smalls—the last remaining American volunteer still in Israeli custody—was brutally assaulted by his captors.
The Trump administration failed to provide any consular support to American volunteers kidnapped last week by Israel Defense Forces troops in international waters while trying to deliver humanitarian aid to starving Gazans, freed U.S. detainees said Wednesday.
"No U.S. Embassy officials have visited us or inquired about our condition—despite our repeated appeals," detained professor Frank Romano, a citizen of both the U.S. and France, said before his transfer Wednesday to an unspecified Israeli airport for deportation.
Four other Handala volunteers who were aboard the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) vessel Handala—Vigdis Bjorvand (Norway), Santiago González Vallejo (Spain), Braedon Peluso (United States), and Sergio Toribio Sanchez (Spain)—were also taken to the airport for deportation on Wednesday. Two other Americans aboard the Handala, attorney Huwaida Arraf and 77-year-old Bob Suberi, were released earlier from Israeli custody along with some of the other 19 FFC volunteers who were seized.
One American, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) co-founder Chris Smalls, remains in Israeli detention at Givon Prison, along with Hatem Aouini of Tunisia.
According to the Israeli legal advocacy group Adalah: "They are being held in overcrowded, poorly ventilated cells, without ventilation or cooling, despite the extreme summer heat. They are being denied basic hygiene supplies, and their sleeping areas are infested with bedbugs. With no yard time, they remain confined in closed rooms all day, without fresh air or space to move."
FFC said Smalls—the only Black activist aboard the Handala—"was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals" after his capture, which occurred without resistance.
"They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back," the coalition said in a Tuesday Instagram post. "When his lawyer met with him, Christian was surrounded by six members of Israel's special police unit. This level of force was not used against other abducted activists."
Jacob Berger, an American actor aboard the Handala who arrived in New York on Tuesday, said in an Instagram video that Smalls "is in great spirits" and "appreciates all the support and love" he's received. "Remember, we have to keep all eyes on Gaza."
Still, advocates questioned why the mainstream media has given little coverage to Smalls, a public figure who met with former President Joe Biden at the White House after leading the drive to unionize Amazon warehouse workers in New York.
Chris Smalls met w/ Biden at WH, but not ONE major outlet covered the IDF detaining & beating Smalls w/ @freedomflotilla.bsky.social. Smalls was choked & beaten by 7 IDF soldiers. paydayreport.com/amazon-union...
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— Mike Elk (@mikeelk.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 2:48 AM
"Despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago," Payday Report senior labor reporter Mike Elk wrote Tuesday.
Elk called out Teamsters president Sean O'Brien, who "has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls, who founded the Amazon Labor Union, which is now an affiliate of the Teamsters."
Pretty hard to believe that the particularly heinous and brutal treatment Christian Smalls was subjected to by Israeli authorities was not a function of racism given it was not inflicted on other Handala detainees.And the US media dgaf.
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— Nathan Kalman-Lamb (@nkalamb.bsky.social) July 29, 2025 at 4:53 AM
The executive board of ALU-IBT Local 1 said on social media Tuesday, "We demand the immediate and unconditional release of all detained activists aboard the flotilla, an end to targeted racist treatment, and we call on the broader labor movement to take a stance for Palestinian liberation."
" Gaza has been under a relentless and inhumane military assault for nearly two years," the board added. "This genocide has caused mass starvation, the forced displacement of millions, and the intentional deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians. There is an immediate need for unrestricted food and medical aid to Gaza."
On Tuesday, the Gaza Health Ministry said that the death toll from Israel's 662-day assault and siege on Gaza topped 60,000, although that figure is likely a vast undercount, according to multiple peer-reviewed studies.
Also on Tuesday, the United Nations-affiliated Integrated Phase Food Security Classification warned that the "worst-case scenario" has already taken hold in Gaza, where half a million people are enduring famine-like conditions, more than 20,000 children have been treated for malnutrition since April, and at least 147 people—including at least 88 children—have died of starvation, according to U.N. and local officials.
The Handala was the third FFC vessel to attempt to break Israel's decadeslong blockade and deliver aid to Gaza since Israel launched its war and siege on Gaza after the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack.
In May, the Conscience was attacked twice in international waters off Malta, presumably by Israeli forces. No one was harmed in what FFC said was a drone strike on the ship. However, the activists were forced to abort their mission.
Last month, Israeli forces seized the U.K.-flagged Madleen and detained its crew members as they sought to deliver food, children's prosthetics, and other supplies to Gaza. FFC volunteers aboard the Madleen included Rima Hassan—a member of the European Parliament—and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
Fifteen years ago, Israeli forces raided an FFC convoy carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Israeli attackers killed nine FFC volunteers aboard the MV Mavi Marmara, including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan.
FFC volunteers vowed to keep trying to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza, despite the risks to their lives and liberty.
"Our countries are allowing Israel to deliberately starve Palestinians as part of this genocidal campaign that it has been carrying out. And we are horrified and not going to sit by and not do anything about it," Arraf told Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman during a Monday interview.
"We will not stop," Arraf added. "So we are actively working on another one. We want the whole world to see the extent to which Israel goes to prevent baby formula from getting into Gaza, and hopefully rise up in all ways possible. Until the siege is broken, the genocide ends, and Palestine is free, we will continue sailing."
Despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago.
On Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces boarded the Handala, a ship associated with the Flotilla Freedom Coalition, that was attempting to reach Gaza with supplies for starving Palestinians. The IDF detained 21 activists, who had their hands held up, in graphic images that were captured by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
Among those on the ship was Chris Smalls, who gained fame when he led a successful union drive at Amazon in Staten Island in 2022. Former U.S. President Joe Biden even invited Smalls to meet with him at the White House to strategize on union organizing in 2022.
On Monday, details emerged that not only was Smalls detained, but he was physically beaten by the IDF. He was the only Black member of the Freedom Flotilla on the Handala.
"The Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirms that upon arrival in Israeli custody, U.S. human rights defender, Christian Smalls, was physically assaulted by seven uniformed individuals," wrote the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on Instagram. "They choked him and kicked him in the legs, leaving visible signs of violence on his neck and back."
His international union leader, Teamsters union president Sean O'Brien, has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls.
Still, despite Smalls having been profiled by every major media outlet in the U.S. when he successfully led the union drive at Amazon, not a single major media outlet has covered his violent detention by the IDF three days ago.
In 2022, The New York Times even ran a Style section profile on his fashion choices among more than a dozen pieces that they ran on his organizing efforts, but the paper has not said anything about the detention and beating of a high-profile labor activist at the hands of the IDF. Only three smaller left-leaning outlets, Zeteo, The Grio, and Jezebel, covered it.
"This totally makes sense," wrote University of New Brunswick Professor Nathan Kalman-Lamb on Bluesky. "A notable public figure in the U.S. (Amazon labor organizer Christian Smalls) is illegally arrested by Israel and subjected to severe physical violence while on a hunger strike… and not one U.S. media outlet of any type has decided that is news."
Some union leaders have already begun to speak out about his detention.
"As a union, we are demanding the immediate release of Chris Smalls and all captured activists," said the 29,000-member California Faculty Association in a statement late Monday. "We further call for an immediate end to the engineered famine and deliberate starving of the people in Gaza, labor complicity with genocide, and all U.S. military aid to Israel".
Other unions are expected to denounce the beating and detention of Smalls by the IDF.
However, his international union leader, Teamsters union president Sean O'Brien, has stayed silent on the detention of Smalls, who founded the Amazon Labor Union, which is now an affiliate of the Teamsters.
Instead, the Teamsters President Sean O'Brien took to social media to advertise his upcoming interview with fascist commentator Vivek Ramaswamy and his 3 million right-wing followers.
“Every hour without consequences emboldens Israel to escalate its attacks on civilians, aid workers, and the very foundations of international law.”
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s (FFC) sailboat, named the Madleen, was intercepted in international waters by the Israeli military at 3:02 am CEST earlier today at 31.95236° N, 32.38880° E.
The ship was unlawfully boarded, its 12 unarmed civilian crew and participants abducted, and its life-saving cargo—including baby formula, food, and medical supplies—confiscated, as well as personal possessions taken.
To our knowledge, no one from the Madleen was injured during the interception.
Immediately after the interception, the crew and participants were moved from the Madleen and taken to an Israeli ship. That is only the second time that crew/participants have been taken off the flotilla ship. The first was in 2011 from the Dignite, which sailed from France.
Prior to the interception, drones flew around Madleen and a white powder substance was dropped on the decks. We do not know what the substance was.
After losing communication with Madleen, the FFC began posting pre-recorded video messages from those onboard. “If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupation forces, or forces that support Israel.” SOS messages from the volunteers have been sent to the world.
In the statement issued by the Gaza Freedom Flotilla coalition, Huwaida Arraf, human rights attorney and Freedom Flotilla organizer, said, “Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard the Madleen. This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the ICJ’s binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade—their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.”
The statement continued, “Israel is once again acting with total impunity. It has defied the International Court of Justice’s binding orders to allow unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza, disregarded the international laws protecting civilian navigation, and dismissed the demands of millions worldwide calling for an end to the siege and genocide.”
This latest act of Israeli aggression follows the unpunished Israeli drone attack on May 1, 2025 on the flotilla’s vessel, Conscience, which left four civilian volunteers injured and the ship disabled and burning in European waters. That unprovoked attack on the Conscience is a major violation of international law that has not been addressed by the international community.
Now, today, Israel has escalated its violence again by targeting another peaceful civilian vessel.
“The world’s governments remained silent when Conscience was bombed. Now Israel is testing that silence again,” said Tan Safi another Freedom Flotilla organizer. “Every hour without consequences emboldens Israel to escalate its attacks on civilians, aid workers, and the very foundations of international law.”
Flotilla lawyers will meet volunteers while they are in prison and advocate for their release.
Calls to the seven embassies in the respective countries of the volunteers will put pressure for immediate consular visits to the prisons to speak with their citizens. Please call the French, Spanish, German, Swedish, Turkish, Brazilian, and Dutch embassies in your country.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition demands:
"We write to urge you to do everything in your power to ensure the safety of the ship and its unarmed, civilian passengers and the success of their peaceful, humanitarian mission to deliver lifesaving aid," the letter says.
As the Madleen drew closer to Gaza on its mission to deliver desperately needed humanitarian aid to the besieged enclave, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib led a letter on Friday calling on the Trump administration to protect the Gaza Freedom Flotilla vessel and its 12 crew members.
"We write to urge you to do everything in your power to ensure the safety of the ship and its unarmed, civilian passengers and the success of their peaceful, humanitarian mission to deliver lifesaving aid," Tlaib (D-Mich.) and 10 other progressive lawmakers wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
The lawmakers explained that their concern for the Madleen crew-members' safety stemmed "from the Israeli government's history of using lethal military force to prevent similar aid ships from arriving in Gaza."
In 2010, for example, Israeli commandos killed nine activists onboard the Mavi Marmara during a raid, including one U.S. citizen. A 10th crew member, who was injured, later died as well. And as recently as May, another flotilla vessel, the Conscience, was attacked by drones off of Malta.
Crew members aboard the Madleen issued a distress signal on June 4 as drones circled overhead. Responding to the current voyage, Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Effie Defrin told reporters that the "IDF is prepared to operate on all fronts, including in the maritime arena," and said, "We will act accordingly," as The Jerusalem Post reported.
"We must be clear: Any attack on the Madleen or its civilian crew is a clear and blatant violation of international law," the U.S. lawmakers wrote.
"While the Trump administration and the international community fail to use their immense leverage to end this blockade, the activists on board the Madleen are an example of humanitarianism and solidarity."
The ship is carrying necessities including rice, flour, medical supplies, and baby formula to Gaza, which has endured more than 600 days of Israeli bombardment and whose 2 million people face starvation following a two-month total aid blockade imposed by Israel that was only lifted in May after international pressure. However, the amount of aid allowed to enter is still severely curtailed.
Several human rights experts and organizations agree that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza with its deadly assault, which has killed at least 61,709 people since October 2023.
Crew members on the Madleen include French- Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan and Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, whose presence has sparked threats from right-wing figures, including U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who wrote on social media, "Hope Greta and her friends can swim!"
Tlaib and the other lawmakers criticized those threats, writing, "This is a serious matter, and we are deeply disturbed by U.S. elected officials making threatening 'jokes' about violence against the civilians onboard."
They urged Rubio "to monitor the Madleen's journey and deter any such hostile actions."
The legislators concluded the letter by drawing attention to the reason the Madleen set sail in the first place:
Above all else, we urge you to address the issue at the root of this voyage: the brutal Israeli blockade and mass starvation of the Palestinian population of Gaza. We demand an immediate end to the blockade, an immediate resumption of unfettered humanitarian aid entry into Gaza, and an immediate and lasting cease-fire. While the Trump administration and the international community fail to use their immense leverage to end this blockade, the activists on board the Madleen are an example of humanitarianism and solidarity. They deserve safety, as does the besieged population of Gaza.
In addition to Tlaib, the letter was signed by Reps. Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-Ill.), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Greg Casar (D-Texas), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), Al Green (D-Texas), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.)
Other political leaders have argued that international attention is the best way to protect the Madleen and its crew.
"The activists of the Madleen are risking their own lives to highlight the horrific cruelty of the Israeli government against the Palestinians in Gaza," wrote Irish senator Lynn Ruane. "If those seeking aid are targets, then so too are those seeking to bring that aid, so all eyes must be firmly on the Freedom Flotilla; their lives depend on it."
On Saturday, more than 200 members of parliament from Europe signed a letter to Israel urging it to guarantee the safety of all Madleen crew members, allow the ship to enter Gaza freely and safely, allow it to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza, and lift its blockade on Gaza entirely.
"The world is watching," the European politicians wrote. "This is an opportunity to demonstrate respect for humanitarian law and human rights."
As of Saturday, the Madleen had reached the coast of Egypt.
"We are now sailing off the Egyptian coast," crew member and German human rights activist Yasemin Acar told Agence France-Presse. "We are all good."
Hassan, meanwhile, called on global governments to "guarantee safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla."
“We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying," says humanitarian Greta Thunberg, "because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity."
Many people, armed only with moral and political convictions, would be too intimidated to confront an army or navy directly. But not all.
Twelve nonviolent human-rights activists with the international Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) are currently sailing a small boat, the Madleen, to Gaza. They hope to create a humanitarian sea corridor through Israel’s illegal blockade. If all goes well, they should arrive this weekend, with “baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and children’s prosthetics.”
They know the danger. Ten volunteers were killed by Israeli commandos when they boarded the Mavi Marmara in 2010. But, as Greta Thunberg said before she embarked last Sunday, “We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity.”
The history is important, and one does not have to approve of Hamas’ attack against Israeli civilians in October 2023 to understand that.
During the Nakba in 1948, at least 750,000 Palestinians were violently displaced from their homelands by Zionist paramilitaries and nascent Israeli forces. As Palestinian-Canadian Samah Al-Sabbagh recently told a crowd, those who survived that colonial onslaught left their “homes, land, olive groves, even the freshly baked bread.”
The occupation has never stopped, and now the violence is more high-tech and all-inclusive in its reach. In Gaza, bombs (largely supplied by the United States) have destroyed homes, apartment buildings, schools, universities, hospitals, mosques, churches, and more—leaving thousands buried under rubble. Adding to that nightmare, doctors report the intentional killing of children with high-velocity bullets that can destroy surrounding tissues and organs.
The death toll is staggering. As of May 27, 2025, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that at least 54,056 people, including at least 17,400 children, have been confirmed as killed in Gaza since October 2023.
For those still living, Israel’s stranglehold on international humanitarian aid has created widespread malnutrition and starvation, with babies and children the most vulnerable. “One in five people in Gaza, about 500,000 people, faces starvation, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification platform said on May 12,” according to the UN. Indeed, the UN calls Gaza the “hungriest place on Earth.”
Israel and its fellow perpetrators, including the United States, refuse to take seriously the rulings by the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, much less the many human-rights groups decrying genocide, and less still the students and people in the streets making a ruckus for justice.
Perhaps the perpetrators think that ignoring the voice of the people will make it stop, that heartbroken people will give up their moral and legal agency. They should think again.
Huwaida Arraf is a Palestinian-American lawyer and activist. She has worked with the International Solidarity Movement, the Free Gaza Movement, and more recently the FFC. Her rationale for sending small, unarmed boats in nonviolent direct actions against Israeli policy? “Our governments have failed. And so the people are taking action.”
Lawyers Arraf and Luigi Daniele assert that there is a strong legal basis for citizens taking action, as world governments ignore their “clear and urgent humanitarian obligations.”
In August 2008, the Free Gaza Movement successfully delivered aid to Gaza, using two small fishing boats named Liberty and Free Gaza. Participants included 44 activists from 17 countries, and they promised that they’d keep returning “until the siege on Gaza was broken.”
Included in the aid they brought were 200 pairs of hearing aids—far short of the 9,000 requested—because so many children were experiencing hearing loss as a result of Israel’s sonic booms.
Two years later, on May 31, 2010, the Israeli navy swarmed the Mavi Marmara. This ship was part of a larger flotilla, carrying nearly 700 people, which was attempting to deliver 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The Israelis killed 10 activists—one died after being comatose for four years—and wounded fifty more.
Although the UN Human Rights Council declared the attack illegal—and despite Prime Minister Netanyahu’s apology to Turkey, whose citizens were killed—Israel continued its oppressive blockade.
Between 2010 and 2024, the FFC continued to challenge the siege. But “all ships were pirated by the IOF, and participants were assaulted, kidnapped, interrogated, imprisoned, and/or deported.” (“IOF” identifies the IDF as an occupation force.)
By May 2, 2025, the FFC had prepared their next attempt. The ship was named Conscience as an appeal to the world’s conscience. It was sitting in international waters near Malta, waiting for the volunteers to board and set out for Gaza. But the crew heard drones, and Conscience was struck by two explosives.
“The bombing was a deliberate act of aggression and intimidation,” the FFC wrote on their website. “Four crew members were injured, the ship was set ablaze, communications were severed, and the vessel was left adrift and taking on water. The attack occurred in European waters, in violation of international law.”
The activists say of the Madleen, “She may be small, but her mission is powerful: To break the silence. To challenge Israel’s illegal blockade through nonviolent direct action. To stand firmly and unapologetically, with Gaza.”
The Madleen set sail on June 1, one day after the fifteenth anniversary of the murderous assault on the Mavi Marmara. Activists gathered in Catania, Sicily, in preparation for their launch. The boat is named for Gaza’s first gender-role-defying fisherwoman; she personifies FFC’s steadfastness.
The ship’s namesake, Madleen, fell in love with the sea as a young child. When she was only 13 years old, she took over her injured father’s fishing boat and became the main breadwinner for her family. Although Madleen’s focus was on her family’s survival—not politics—she shared the fishermen’s encounters with Israeli patrols. She recounted, “They often directly attacked my boat. They stole my fishing nets more than once. The thing was that each time they attacked me, I would get a little stronger. I never gave up.”
Years later, she hopes her two daughters will become “two strong fisherwomen.”
May Madleen and the activists happily meet in Gaza this month. And may this stubbornly committed “civil society initiative of unarmed civilians” help the world see that legal and moral obligations are not overridden by governments’ corrupt colonial agendas.
To that end, the FFC asks that people raise their voices and contact the media and government officials to express support for breaking the siege against Gaza.
Readers can track the progress of the Madleen in real time and explore ways to support the FFC’s work. They promise: “We sail until Palestine is free.”
This article first appeared in Foreign Policy In Focus and appears here with permission
"No matter how dangerous this mission is, it's nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide," said climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is aboard the Madleen.
A dozen Palestine defenders including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and a French lawmaker set sail from Sicily on Sunday aboard a boat carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, many of whom are starving amid Israel's ongoing U.S.-backed genocidal assault and siege and decadeslong naval blockade of the coastal enclave.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said it launched the sailboat Madleen—named after Gaza's first and only known fisherwoman—from Catania, Italy at 4:00 pm local time Sunday "in direct defiance of Israel's illegal and genocidal blockade."
"Madleen symbolizes the unyielding spirit of Palestinian resilience and the growing global resistance to Israel's use of collective punishment and deliberate starvation policies," FFC said in a statement Sunday. "The ship 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 international volunteers aboard Madleen include Thunberg, French Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan, German refugee advocate and FFC steering committee member Yasemin Acar, Brazilian FFC steering committee member Thiago Ávila, Al Jazeera reporter Omar Fayad, French doctor Baptiste Andre, French journalist Yanis M'Hamdi, Turkish engineer Şuayb Ordu, and crew members Mark Van Rennes, Reva Seifert Viard, Pascal Maurieras, and Sergio Toribio.
"I am aboard
Madleen because silence is not neutrality—it is complicity," said Hassan, who is banned from entering Israel due to her outspoken support for Palestinian rights. "The Palestinian people in Gaza are being starved and slaughtered, and the world watches. This ship is not just carrying aid, it is carrying a demand: End the blockade. End the genocide."
Thunberg said that "we are seeing a systematic starvation of 2 million people. The world cannot be silent bystanders, Every single one of us has a moral obligation to do everything we can to fight for a free Palestine."
The Madleen's launch came a month after the Conscience, another FCC aid vessel traveling in international waters off Malta, was attacked twice, presumably by Israeli forces. No one was harmed in what FFC said was a drone strike on the ship. However, the activists were forced to abort their humanitarian mission. Israel has not commented on the incident.
Madleen also set sail nearly 15 years to the day after Israeli forces raided a Gaza Freedom Flotilla convoy carrying humanitarian aid to the besieged people of Gaza. The attack—which also came in international waters—left nine people including Turkish-American teenager Furkan Doğan dead.
FFC said Sunday that the "unarmed and nonviolent" mission "poses no threat" and "sails in full accordance with international law. Any attack or interference will be a deliberate, unlawful assault on civilians."
Those aboard the Madleen said they were aware of the dangers they faced. Israel has killed numerous Western activists and journalists who document its human rights violations over the years, and just last month Israeli troops opened fire on a group of international diplomats visiting the illegally occupied West Bank two days after three involved countries issued an ultimatum to stop annihilating Gaza.
"We are doing this because, no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying," a tearful Thunberg said during a Sunday press conference. "Because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity."
"And no matter how dangerous this mission is, it's nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide," she added.
Activist Greta Thunberg says silence is more dangerous than sailing to Gaza, as she boarded a vessel that will try to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla had to abandon its last attempt on May 2 when it was bombed. pic.twitter.com/ieecZ8ps0E
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 1, 2025
Some Israelis and their supporters took to social media to wish harm upon the activists. In the United States, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) alluded to past Israeli attacks on Gaza aid flotillas in a social media post saying, "Hope Greta and her friends can swim!"
Israel strongly refutes allegations that it is committing genocide in Gaza. South Africa has filed, and dozens of nations support, a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The International Criminal Court, also located in the Dutch city, has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, including extermination and starvation as a weapon of war, in Gaza.
Officials in Gaza say that more than 192,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured since Israel launched its assault and siege following the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, a figure that includes at least 14,000 people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble and hundreds of mostly children who have died from acute malnutrition and lack of medical care.
Around 2 million Gazans have also been forcibly displaced, often multiple times, amid Israel's campaign to starve, conquer, indefinitely occupy, ethnically cleanse, and possibly recolonize the coastal strip.
Each side accuses the other of thwarting cease-fire efforts. On Saturday, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff rejected what he called Hamas' "totally unacceptable" proposal for a truce in which 10 living and 18 dead Israeli hostages would be exchanged for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Former Israeli peace negotiator Daniel Levy told Democracy Now! on Monday that a cease-fire proposal mediated by Witkoff is "a bad deal for the Palestinians that will allow Israel to continue its ethnic cleansing of Gaza" and "walks back the commitment for a permanent cease-fire, Israeli withdrawal, and allowing in of humanitarian aid."
Critics accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war in order to delay his own criminal corruption trial.