Gaza City – While the Madleen heads to Gaza to try to provide vital help to his people, little is known about the woman that the boat was named: Madleen Kulab, the only fisherman in Gaza.
When Tel Aviv Tribune met Madleen Kulab for the first time (also spelled Madelyn Culab) three years ago, she had two children, awaited her third and lived a relatively calm life in Gaza City with her husband, Khader Bakr, 32, also fisherman.
Madleen, now 30 years old, would sail without fear until the blockade of combat ship of Israel would bring back fish that it could sell on a local market to support the family.
When the War of Israel against Gaza began, the family was terrified, then the heart broken when Israel killed Madleen’s father in an air strike near their home in November 2023.
They fled with Madleen almost nine pregnant months in Khan Younis, then in Rafah, Deir El-Balah then in Nuseirat.
Now they are back in what remains of their house in Gaza City, a seriously damaged space in which they returned when the Israeli army allowed the displaced people to return north in January.
Responsibility and pride
Madleen sits on a sofa beaten in her damaged living room, three of her four children sitting with her: Baby Waseela, one, on her lap; Safinaz, five, next to her; And Jamal, three years old – the baby she was waiting for when Tel Aviv Tribune met her for the first time – at the end.
She talks about what it was to hear an Irish militant friend that the ship trying to break the blockade on Gaza would be appointed according to her.
“I was deeply moved. I felt a huge sense of responsibility and a little pride, ”she says with a smile.
“I am grateful to these activists who devoted themselves, left their lives and comfort, and held with Gaza despite all the risks,” she said about the group of 12 activists, who includes Swedish activist from the Greta Thunberg climate and Rima Hassan, French member of the European Parliament.
“It is the highest form of humanity and self -sacrifice in the face of danger.”
Khader seated on another sofa with Sandy, six years old. He hands his phone with a photo of Madleen on it, driving the Palestinian flag.
Madleen has been fishing since the age of 15, a familiar figure who heads for her father’s boat, learning to know all other fishermen and also becoming known to international solidarity activists.
In addition to bringing the fish home, Madleen is also a qualified cook, preparing seasonal fish dishes that were so tasty that she had a list of customers waiting to buy them from her house. The dishes prepared with the omnipresent sardines of Gaza.
But now she can no longer fish and Khader either because Israel has destroyed their boats and an entire storage room full of fishing equipment during the war.
“We have lost everything – the fruit of a life,” she says.
But his loss is not only a matter of income. This is identity – its deep link with the sea and fishing. It is even the simple joy of eating fish, which it appreciated “10 times a week”.
“Now the fish is too expensive if you can find it at all. There are only a few fishermen left, and they risk their life just to catch a little, ”she says.
“Everything has changed. We now want fish in the middle of this famine that we live. ”
Sleep on a naked floor, newborn in his arms
After the air strike near the family home in November 2023, the first trip of the Madleen family was in Khan Younis, following instructions from the Israeli army that they would be more safe.
After looking for a shelter, they ended up in a small apartment with 40 other displaced parents, then Madleen entered work.
“It was a difficult and brutal birth. No pain relief, no medical care. I had to leave the hospital just after childbirth. There were no beds available due to the overwhelming number of wounded, “she said.
When she returned to the refuge, things were just as disastrous. “We had no mattresses or even coverage, neither me nor the children,” she said.
“I had to sleep on the ground with my newborn baby. It was physically exhausting. “
She then had to take care of four children in an enclave where the baby formula, the layers and even the most basic foods were almost impossible to find.
The war, she says, has reshaped his understanding of suffering and difficulties.
In 2022, she and Khader struggled to reach the two ends between the strike of Israel and the frequent destruction of their boats. There was also the additional burden of being a mother with young children and to undertake such physically trying work.
But now things have worsened.
“There is no more” difficult “.
A ship named Madleen
Throughout the war, Madleen remained in touch with international friends and solidarity activists she had met over the years.
“I would share my reality with them,” she said.
“They came to understand the situation through me. They felt like a family. ”
Her friends abroad offered emotional and financial support, and she is grateful to them, saying that they made her feel that Gaza was not forgotten, that people were always cared.
It is also grateful to remember the name of Madleen, but she is worried that the Israeli authorities will not let the ship reach Gaza, citing past attempts that have been intercepted.
“Intercepting the ship would be the least. What is more worrying is the possibility of direct assault as what happened to the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in 2010 when several people were killed. ”
Regardless of what’s going on, Madleen believes that the real message of the mission has already been delivered.
“It is a call to break the world silence, to attract the attention of the world to what is happening in Gaza. The blockade must end, and this war must stop immediately.”
“It is also a message of hope for me. They may have bombed my boat, but my name will remain – and it will cross the sea. ”
