EXPLAINER
The 12-person crew, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, is expected to reach Gaza on June 7 in a ship carrying humanitarian aid.
The Madleen ship, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), is en route towards Gaza carrying humanitarian aid and human rights activists protesting against Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza.
The vessel has set sail in response to Israel’s total aid blockade of the Palestinian enclave since March 2, which has resulted in the deaths of dozens of children due to starvation. More than 90 percent of the enclave’s 2.3 million people are facing acute food shortages, according to aid groups.
The Madleen, named after Gaza’s first and only fisherwoman, departed Catania, Sicily on June 1, just one month after Israeli drones bombed Conscience, another Freedom Flotilla aid ship, off the coast of Malta.
The 2,000km (1,250-mile) journey is expected to take seven days, provided there are no disruptions.
The ship’s location is being monitored live by Forensic Architecture through its onboard tracking system. The latest location as of June 3, at 15:00 GMT was some 600km (375 miles) from Sicily.
The first of many!
@gazafreedomflotilla#breakthesiege pic.twitter.com/b841jyRsZv— liam cunningham (@liamcunningham1) June 2, 2025
Who is onboard?
There are 12 activists onboard the Madleen:
- Greta Thunberg – Swedish climate activist
- Rima Hassan – French-Palestinian Member of European Parliament
- Yasemin Acar – Germany
- Baptiste Andre – France
- Thiago Avila – Brazil
- Omar Faiad – France
- Pascal Maurieras – France
- Yanis Mhamdi – France
- Suayb Ordu – Turkiye
- Sergio Toribio – Spain
- Marco van Rennes – the Netherlands
- Reva Viard – France
Meet the 12 volunteers from around the world who are sailing on #Madleen in the #FreedomFlotillaCoalition‘s steadfast mission to break Israel’s illegal siege of Gaza and establish a people’s sea corridor #AllEyesOnDeck #BreakTheSiege #endoccupation #Gaza pic.twitter.com/cimfieivTy
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) June 2, 2025
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.
The FFC has emphasised that all volunteers and crew aboard Madleen are trained in nonviolence and are sailing unarmed in a peaceful act of civil resistance against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
What happened to previous flotillas?
Last month,…