“No matter how dangerous this mission is, it’s nowhere near as dangerous as the silence of the entire world in the face of the live-streamed genocide,” said climate activist Greta Thunberg, who is aboard the Madleen.

A dozen  Palestine defenders including climate campaigner  Greta Thunberg and a French lawmaker  set sail from Sicily on Sunday [1 June] aboard a boat carrying humanitarian aid for the people of Gaza, many of whom are starving amid Israel’s ongoing US-backed genocidal assault and siege and decades-long naval blockade of the coastal enclave.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said it launched the sailboat Madleen — named after Gaza’s first and only known fisherwoman — from Catania, Italy at 4:00 pm local time on Sunday “in direct defiance of Israel’s illegal and genocidal blockade”.

“Madleen symbolises the unyielding spirit of Palestinian resilience and the growing global resistance to Israel’s use of collective punishment and deliberate starvation policies,” FFC said in a statement. “The ship 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 international volunteers aboard Madleen include Thunberg, French Member of European Parliament  Rima Hassan, German refugee advocate and FFC steering committee member  Yasemin Acar, Brazilian FFC steering committee member ........

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