The Madleen ship, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), is on the way to Gaza, transporting activists of humanitarian aid and Protestant human rights against the illegal blocking of Israel of the strip.
The ship has saved in response to blocking the total help of Israel of the Palestinian enclave since March 2, which led to the death of dozens of children due to famine. According to aid groups, more than 90% of 2.3 million people in the enclave face acute food shortages.
The Madleen, named after the first and only fisherman in Gaza, left Catania, Sicily, on June 1, only a month after Israeli drones bombed Conscience, another FFC aid ship, off Malta.
The 2,000 km trip (1,250 miles) should take seven days, provided there is no disturbance.
The location of the ship is monitored live by medico-legal architecture and using a Garmin Live tracker on board. The last location on June 4 at 4:00 am GMT was around 600 km (375 miles) from Sicily.
The diagram below shows a live card from the current location of the flotilla:
Surveillance drone
Late Tuesday evening, a surveillance drone was seen hovering on Madleen because it was about 68 km (42 miles) outside the Greek territorial waters.
The drone was then identified as a Hellenic coast guard heron, which has since left.
#FreEdomflotilla #Breakthesiege #Alleyesondeck pic.twitter.com/n5yhq2xdoj
– Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@gazafflotilla) June 3, 2025
Who is on board?
There are 12 activists aboard the Madleen:
- Greta Thunberg – Swedish climate activist
- Rima Hassan – French -Palestinian of the European Parliament
- Yasemin ACAR – Germany
- Baptiste Andre – France
- Thiago Avila – Brazil
- Omar Faiad – France
- Pascal Maurieras – France
- Yanis Mhamdi – France
- Suayb Ordu – Turkiye
- Sergio Toribio – Spain
- Marco Van Rennes – Netherlands
- Reva Viard – France
The first of many!
@gazafreEdomflotilla#breakthesiege pic.twitter.com/b841jyrszv– Liam Cunningham (@ liamcunningham1) June 2, 2025
Meet the 12 volunteers from around the world who sail on #Madleen in the #FreEdomflotillacalition“S Quick Mission to break the illegal headquarters of Israel from Gaza and establish a popular sea corridor #Alleyesondeck #Breakthesiege #End occupation #Gaza pic.twitter.com/cimfieivty
– Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@gazafflotilla) June 2, 2025
We do this because no matter the chances that we are against, we must continue to try, because the moment when we stop trying is when we lose our humanity.
The FFC pointed out that all the volunteers and the Madleen crew are trained in non-violence and sail unarmed in a peaceful act of civil resistance against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
What happened to the previous flutillas?
Last month, another ship carrying aid to Gaza was affected by drones in international waters off the coast of Malta. The ship had sought to provide aid after the genocidal blockade of Israel of the besieged enclave.
The FFC told Tel Aviv Tribune that the attack on consciousness at 12:23 p.m. local time (10:23 GMT) on May 2 exploded a hole in the ship and burnt down the engine.
Fifteen years ago, the Israeli commandos led a deadly attack against Mavi Marmara, the largest ship of a Flatilla of aid carrying Turkish militants.
The so-called Gaza Freedom Flotilla transported 10,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid and had left Istanbul to try to break the blockade of Israel from Gaza. Nine humanitarian volunteers were killed on May 31, 2010.
Gaza has been under an Israeli, maritime and air blockade since 2007.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfebbdkyrq
What help does the ship transport?
According to an FFC press release, Madleen brings things whose people in Gaza, including medical supplies, flour, rice, baby formula, nappies, health products for women, water desalination kits, crutches and prostheses for children.
Famine from Gaza
One in five Palestinians in Gaza faces famine due to the total blocking of three months of Israel from the band.
According to the latest classification report for the integrated food security phase (IPC), 1.95 million people – 93% of the enclave population – are faced with acute food shortages.
The IPC claims that the continuous blockade of Israel “would probably lead to an additional mass movement within and between governors”, because the elements essential to the survival of people will be exhausted.
Despite a help organization for aid led by the United States and supported by the United States, called the Gaza Humaninian Foundation, created last month to provide assistance to Gaza, its new distribution center has disintegrated in chaos in the hours after its opening on May 27 and was tainted with even more controversy after fatal shootings in aid distribution centers.
Israel has been accused of having attracted Palestinians to these centers and killing more than 100 in the past eight days.
Israeli forces have killed more than 54,000 Palestinians since they launched their devastating offensive on October 7, 2023.
