Greta Thunberg Boards Ship to Gaza

Greta Thunberg, the climate activist, has set sail for Gaza in a bid to “break the Israeli blockade”.

Ms Thunberg, a vocal opponent of Israel’s war on Gaza, boarded the ship Madleen with 11 other activists, including Liam Cunningham, the Game of Thrones actor, and the European parliamentarian Rima Hassan.

They left Sicily on Sunday with the aim of reaching Gaza’s shores and drawing attention to the plight of civilians in the Strip, who have endured more than a year and a half of intense bombardment.

“The world cannot be silent bystanders. This silence and passivity that we are seeing from most of the world is deadly. We are seeing a systematic starvation of 2 million people. Every single one of us has a moral obligation to do everything we can to fight for a free Palestine,” Ms Thunberg, 22, said in a statement.

Ms Hassan said the aims of the trip were “to condemn the humanitarian blockade and ongoing genocide, the impunity granted to the state of Israel and raise international awareness”.

The activists expect to take seven days to get to their destination if they are not stopped. However, it is unlikely they will reach Gaza because Israeli authorities strictly control the enclave’s waters and have a reputation for dealing ruthlessly with intruders.

In 2017, the Israeli navy shot and killed a Palestinian on a Gaza fishing boat in the Mediterranean after it claimed the vessel had ignored warning shots and continued to stray out of its authorised zone.

In 2010, nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed and dozens injured when an Israeli commando unit raided an aid flotilla that tried to breach the Gaza blockade. The flotilla was trying to transport aid supplies to Gaza despite an Israeli naval blockade.

International prosecutors said Israeli soldiers may have committed war crimes during the incident, but ultimately decided the case was beyond their remit.

The Madleen is operated by Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an activist group that attempted to reach Gaza by sea in early May.

That attempt failed, however, after another of the group’s vessels, the Conscience, was attacked by two alleged drones while sailing in international waters off the coast of Malta. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship.

“We are breaking the siege of Gaza by sea, but that’s part of a broader strategy of mobilisations that will also attempt to break the siege by land,” Thiago Avila, an activist, said about the latest voyage.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition accuses Israel of genocidal acts in its war in Gaza, a claim Israel denies.