A vessel that was approaching Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s Gaza-bound charity ship the Madleen has left, the coalition said early on Monday (June 9, 2025), after an alarm was sounded on the ship warning of a possible interception.
Hours earlier, the Israeli Defence Minister Israeli Katz said he told the military to stop the boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg and a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade.
The coalition posted on its Telegram account a voice memo of Thiago Avila, one of the activists onboard, saying “we have been surrounded by many lights all at once; they were circling our boat but in the end they kept going their own way.”
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the British-flagged Madleen boat is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
On Sunday (June 8, 2025) Israel ordered its military to stop the humanitarian ship carrying activists, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, breaking the blockade of the war-ravaged Gaza Strip.
“I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza,” Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.
“Turn back because you will not reach Gaza,” Mr Katz added, calling the activists “Hamas propaganda mouthpieces”.
The Madleen, operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, left Italy on June 1 with the aim of delivering aid and challenging the Israeli blockade, which has been in place for years even before the Israel-Hamas war since October 2023.
Organisers said Saturday (June 7, 2025) the vessel had entered Egyptian waters and was nearing Gaza, where the war has entered its 21st month.
“We are not armed. There is only humanitarian aid,” European Parliament member Rima Hassan told AFP from the boat, vowing to “stay mobilised until the last minute”.
The coalition said in a statement on X it expected “interception and an attack from Israel at any moment”, calling for protection from the governments of those on board, who are nationals of Germany, France, Brazil, Turkiye, Sweden, Spain and the Netherlands.
Mr Katz said that “Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade of Gaza, which is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas — a murderous terrorist group holding our hostages and committing war crimes.”
‘Risked their lives’ for food
Civil defence spokesman Mahmud Bassal and witnesses said the civilians had been heading to a site west of Rafah, in southern Gaza, run by the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.
The GHF has come under criticism from humanitarian agencies and the United Nations refuses to work with it, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality.
Witness Abdallah Nour al-Din told AFP that “people started gathering in the Al-Alam area of Rafah” in the early morning.
“After about an hour and a half, hundreds moved toward the site and the army opened fire,” he said.
The Israeli military said it fired on people who “continued advancing in a way that endangered the soldiers” despite warnings.
The GHF said in a statement there had been no incidents “at any of our three sites” on Sunday (June 8, 2025).
It said it had distributed more than a million meals, including more than 6,00,000 through a trial of “direct to community distribution” via “community leaders”.
Outside Nasser Hospital, where the emergency workers brought the casualties, AFPTV footage showed mourners crying over blood-stained body bags.
“I can’t see you like this,” said Lin al-Daghma by her father’s body.
She spoke of the struggle to access food aid after more than two months of a total Israeli blockade of Gaza, despite a recent easing.
Dozens of people have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to the civil defence agency.
At a charity kitchen in Gaza City, displaced Palestinian Umm Ghassan told AFP she had been unable to collect aid from a GHF site “because there were so many people, and there was a lot of shooting. I was afraid to go in, but there were people who risked their lives for their children and families”.
Published – June 09, 2025 04:39 am IST