By Ann Wright, re-posted from Peace & Planet News
The Gaza Flotilla sailboat Madleen set off from Catania, Sicily, Italy on June 1, 2025 for a 7-day voyage to Gaza to break the 40-year illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and now to stop the 600 day genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. The ship and her 12-person crew and participants departed at 4 pm Central European Summer Time following four very successful community events in Catania, each event having several hundred members of the local community attending.
The Madleen is named after Gaza’s first and only fisherwoman in 2014. The ship is a symbol of the unyielding spirit of Palestinian resilience and the growing global resistance to Israel’s use of collective punishment and deliberate starvation policies.
Her launch comes just one month after Israeli drones bombed Conscience, another Freedom Flotilla aid ship, underscoring both the urgency and the danger of this mission to break the siege on Gaza. The Conscience had been in international waters off the European country of Malta as the flotilla coalition was ready to board around 35 participants onto the ship. The bombing occurred hours following the flight of an Israeli military C-130 Hercules aircraft around Malta.
In the afternoon of May 1, only hours before the Israeli military bombed the Conscience, the small Pacific island of Palau, which is dependent on U.S. funding through the Compact of Free Association, cancelled the flag and certification of the Conscience, no doubt following pressure from the U.S. government.
Madleen 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 Freedom Flotilla Coalition emphasizes that this is a peaceful act of civil resistance. All volunteers and crew aboard Madleen are trained in nonviolence. They are sailing unarmed, united by the shared belief that Palestinians deserve the same rights, freedom, and dignity as all people.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition calls on:
- Governments to guarantee safe passage for Madleen and all humanitarian vessels;
- Media outlets to report on this mission with accuracy and integrity;
- People of conscience everywhere to reject silence and take action for Gaza.
Those onboard the Madleen are:
1. Mark Van Rennes (crew) The Netherlands
2. Reva Seifert Viard (crew) France
3. Pascal Maurieras (crew) France
4. Sergio Toribio (crew) Spain
5. Thiago Ávila (Freedom Flotilla Steering Committee) (Brazil)
6. Yasemin Acar (Freedom Flotilla Steering Committee) (Germany)
7. Rima Hassan (European Parliamentarian) France
8. Greta Thunberg (climate activist) Sweden
9. Yanis M’Hamdi (journalist) France
10. Suayb Ordu (engineer) Turkey
11. Omar Fayad (Al Jazeera reporter) France
12. Baptiste Andre (Doctor) France