Mere hours before the Gaza Freedom Flotilla ship Handala was to sail with 21 participants on board, in the Italian port of Gallipoli, two attempts to sabotage the ship were made.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition stated in its Instagram:

Despite the two attempts at sabotage, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition sailed its next ship to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.

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The Handala departed for Gaza on July 20, 2025 from the Italian port of Gallipoli after stops in Augusta and Siracusa in Sicily. The journey to Gaza may take around seven days.

Twenty-one persons from 10 countries are onboard the Handala, including seven U.S. citizens, representing the hundreds of millions of Americans who are strongly opposed to U.S. complicity in the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

The following nationalities are represented on the Handala: USA, 7; France, 4; Australia, 2; Italy, 2; Spain, 2; Norway, 1; Morocco, 1; Tunisia, 1; United Kingdom, 1; and Israel—two U.S. citizens have dual citizenship with Israel.

Huwaida Arraf from Detroit, Michigan is a Palestinian who is a citizenship in both the U.S. and Israel. She was on several of the small boats that actually got into Gaza in 2008. She was also on the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla on the boat named Challenger One. She is a human rights lawyer. She is a steering committee member of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Coalition and U.S. Boats to Gaza.

Braedon Peluso from New York is a mariner with over a decade of experience at sea, much of it dedicated to activism in marine conservation and sea rescue organizations. In 2024, he was part of the Handala mission.

Frank Romano is a U.S.-French citizen from New York City and Paris. He is a human rights lawyer and filmmaker. He has been in the West Bank many times.

Robert Suberi is a U.S.-Israeli citizen from St. Louis, Missouri. He has been a crew member of Handala during two sailings in Northern Europe. He has done accompany work in the West Bank.

Chris Smalls from New Jersey is an American labor organizer known for his role in leading Amazon worker organization on Staten Island, New York. He is a cofounder and the former president of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) (2021-24).

Jacob Berger is a Jewish-American from Los Angeles. He is an actor and has done humanitarian work for Palestinians who have arrived in Cairo. He is active on social media.

Waad Aal Musa is an Al Jazeera journalist, news producer, and photographer, originally from Iraq, but now a U.S. citizen.

Emma Fourreau is a member of European Parliament from France and also claims Sweden. She was a volunteer on the ship Sea Shepard.

 Grabielle Cathala is a member of the French Parliament who........

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