NGO Launches Second Attempt to Sail to Gaza, Without its Damaged Ship

A month after the first attempt to sail to Gaza was stopped when their vessel was attacked, the activist group Freedom Flotilla Coalition has launched a second attempt this time using a smaller private sailing vessel. The group set out from the Italian port of Catania, Sicily on June 1 with the declared intent to challenge Israel’s ongoing blockade of Gaza. 

They set out this time with extensive media attention saying that they are “a peaceful act of civil resistance. All the volunteers and crew aboard the Madleen are trained in nonviolence. They are sailing unarmed,” the group said in a statement. They said they understand the risk of interception by Israeli naval forces.

The ID number they supplied for the vessel they are calling Madleen (named the group says for Gaza’s first and only fisherwoman) corresponds to a UK-registered 18-meter (59-foot) sailing vessel named Barcarole. The Coalition says they put aboard an advanced tracking system which currently shows them sailing at 5.7 knots. As such, it would take them a week to complete the 1,000-nautical mile trip to Gaza.

On board, the group says are volunteers from multiple countries, among them a member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, climate justice activist Greta Thunberg, and according to some reports Irish actor Liam Cunningham. The ship is reported to be 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 group acknowledged to Reuters that it is a limited but symbolic amount of relief supplies.

 

The first attempt was on the German excursion boat they named Conscience (Freedom Flotilla Coalition) 

 

This is the second attempt after they tried to take a larger 120 dwt German coastal cruise ship previously used for excursions from Malta. The vessel they named Conscience was attacked the group contends by the Israelis disabling the ship and starting a fire. Malta assisted in putting out the fire and after delays, the Conscience was towed by an Italian tugboat to Libya. Reports have said they hoped to repair the ship once it reached port.

Before the previous attempt, the group said it had attempted to limit media coverage. This time they are broadcasting the location to draw international attention. They are calling for a guarantee of safe passage and encouraging media coverage.