Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Nonprofit Ship Sets Sail for Gaza After Drone Attack Setback
Reuters logo
By Reuters
Published 3 weeks ago on
June 3, 2025

Climate activist Greta Thunberg speaks during a news conference at the COP25 climate summit in Madrid, Spain, Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. Thunberg is in Madrid where a global U.N.-sponsored climate change conference is taking place. (AP/Andrea Comas)

Share

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

CATANIA (Reuters) – International nonprofit organization Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said one of its vessels left the Italian port of Catania on Sunday, heading for Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, after a previous attempt failed due to a drone attack on a separate ship in the Mediterranean.

Greta Thunberg, Liam Cunningham Set Sail

The crew of volunteers, including climate activist Greta Thunberg and Irish actor Liam Cunningham, set sail on the Madleen, carrying barrels of what the group called “limited amounts, though symbolic”, of relief supplies.

Another vessel operated by the group, the Conscience, was hit by two drones just outside Maltese territorial waters in early May. FFC said Israel was to blame for the incident. Israel has not responded to requests for comment.

“We are doing this because no matter what odds we are against, we have to keep trying, because the moment we stop trying is when we lose our humanity,” Thunberg told reporters at a conference before the departure.

She added that “no matter how dangerous this mission is, it is nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the lives being genocised”.

FFC said the trip “is not charity. This is a non-violent, direct action to challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes”.

The situation in Gaza is the worst since the war between Israel and Hamas militants began 19 months ago, the United Nations said on Friday, despite a resumption of limited aid deliveries in the Palestinian enclave.

Under growing global pressure, Israel ended an 11-week blockade on Gaza, allowing limited U.N.-led operations to resume.

On Monday, a new avenue for aid distribution was also launched – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation – backed by the United States and Israel, but with which the U.N. and international aid groups have refused to work, saying it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.

(Reporting by Danilo Arnone in Catania and Giulia Segreti in Rome; Editing by David Holmes)

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

4 Million Acres of California Forests Could Lose Protection. What Trump’s ‘Roadless Rule’ Repeal Could Do

DON'T MISS

Israeli Settlers Raid West Bank Town, Troops Kill 3 Palestinians

DON'T MISS

West Nile Virus Detected in Mosquitoes in Fresno County

DON'T MISS

Trump Says Netanyahu’s Trial Should Be Canceled

DON'T MISS

St. Agnes’ New Chief Medical Officer Is a Kidney Care Expert

DON'T MISS

US Military to Create Two New Border Zones, Officials Say

DON'T MISS

Trump Signals US May Ease Iran Oil Sanction Enforcement to Help Rebuild Country

DON'T MISS

CIA Says Intelligence Indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program Severely Damaged

DON'T MISS

Upscale Woodward Park Area Apartments Sell for $19 Million

DON'T MISS

Wired Wednesday: Learn the Latest on the Caleb Quick Murder Hearings

UP NEXT

Israeli Settlers Raid West Bank Town, Troops Kill 3 Palestinians

UP NEXT

West Nile Virus Detected in Mosquitoes in Fresno County

UP NEXT

Trump Says Netanyahu’s Trial Should Be Canceled

UP NEXT

St. Agnes’ New Chief Medical Officer Is a Kidney Care Expert

UP NEXT

US Military to Create Two New Border Zones, Officials Say

UP NEXT

Trump Signals US May Ease Iran Oil Sanction Enforcement to Help Rebuild Country

UP NEXT

CIA Says Intelligence Indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program Severely Damaged

UP NEXT

Upscale Woodward Park Area Apartments Sell for $19 Million

UP NEXT

Wired Wednesday: Learn the Latest on the Caleb Quick Murder Hearings

UP NEXT

Trump Administration Orders CA to Strip Trans Athlete of Medals

Trump Says Netanyahu’s Trial Should Be Canceled

7 hours ago

St. Agnes’ New Chief Medical Officer Is a Kidney Care Expert

8 hours ago

US Military to Create Two New Border Zones, Officials Say

8 hours ago

Trump Signals US May Ease Iran Oil Sanction Enforcement to Help Rebuild Country

8 hours ago

CIA Says Intelligence Indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program Severely Damaged

9 hours ago

Upscale Woodward Park Area Apartments Sell for $19 Million

10 hours ago

Wired Wednesday: Learn the Latest on the Caleb Quick Murder Hearings

11 hours ago

Trump Administration Orders CA to Strip Trans Athlete of Medals

11 hours ago

Three Mile Island Nuclear Plant Reboot Fast-Tracked to 2027

11 hours ago

Democratic Lawmaker Pleads Not Guilty to Assaulting US Agents at Immigration Center

11 hours ago

4 Million Acres of California Forests Could Lose Protection. What Trump’s ‘Roadless Rule’ Repeal Could Do

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters. The Trump administration’s plan to repeal a rule prohibiti...

7 hours ago

Tahoe National Forest
7 hours ago

4 Million Acres of California Forests Could Lose Protection. What Trump’s ‘Roadless Rule’ Repeal Could Do

Palestinians gather to receive aid supplies in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, June 17, 2025. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo
7 hours ago

Israeli Settlers Raid West Bank Town, Troops Kill 3 Palestinians

West Nile virus mosquito
7 hours ago

West Nile Virus Detected in Mosquitoes in Fresno County

President Donald Trump meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 7, 2025. (Reuters File)
7 hours ago

Trump Says Netanyahu’s Trial Should Be Canceled

8 hours ago

St. Agnes’ New Chief Medical Officer Is a Kidney Care Expert

A U.S. Border Patrol vehicle patrols along the border wall, following the establishment of a 260-mile military zone along the southern U.S. border in New Mexico and Texas as part of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, in Sunland Park, New Mexico, U.S., May 20, 2025. (Reuters File)
8 hours ago

US Military to Create Two New Border Zones, Officials Say

Oil tankers pass through the Strait of Hormuz, December 21, 2018. (Reuters File)
8 hours ago

Trump Signals US May Ease Iran Oil Sanction Enforcement to Help Rebuild Country

CIA Director John Ratcliffe speaks during an interview at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 30, 2025. (Reuters File)
9 hours ago

CIA Says Intelligence Indicates Iran’s Nuclear Program Severely Damaged

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend