Gaza Flotilla ship “Handala” sails to Challenge Israeli Genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
Colonel (Ret) Ann Wright
As the genocide of Palestinians continues with the daily massacres of hundreds of starving people being targeted and killed by the Israeli military as they come to attempt to get food, another ship of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla coalition “Handala” is sailing to bring attention to the criminal actions of the State of Israel and its leadership.
While President Trump, his cabinet and the US Congress meet with the International Criminal Court (ICC) designated war criminal Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, the small ship named Handala and a group of 18 participants is in final preparations for another mission to break the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza and end the genocide.
Gaza flotilla ship Handala underway
The flotilla ship Handala moved on July 10 from its port for the past year, Augusta, Sicily to its mission launch site in Siracusa, Sicily. Local organizers in Siracusa have created multiple events for the citizens of Sicily to join in challenging the ongoing Israeli genocide of Gaza.
As announced in our press release, on Sunday, July 13, 2025 “the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) will launch Handala—a civilian boat setting out to challenge Israel’s illegal, deadly blockade of Gaza. The vessel will carry life-saving humanitarian aid and a message of solidarity from people around the world refusing to stay silent as Gaza is starved, bombed, and buried under rubble.”
In June, 2025, Flotilla sailboat Madleen challenged the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza
The Handala sails just weeks after Israel’s illegal attack on the Madleen, another Freedom Flotilla boat illegally seized by Israel in international waters. Twelve unarmed civilians—including a Member of the European Parliament, a doctor, journalists and human rights defenders—were abducted by Israeli commandos and taken against their will to Israel, where they were interrogated, abused, then deported. Their “crime”? Attempting to bring food, medicine, and solidarity to Palestinians under siege.
In May, 2025, Israel bombed the Gaza Flotilla ship “Conscience” in international waters off Malta
Two months ago, Israel bombed another of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla coalition ships, the “Conscience” while it was in international waters off Malta and only hours before the coalition was bringing 40 international participants onto the ship to sail to Gaza.
Several of the crew of the “Conscience” were injured by the shrapnel from the bombs dropped by drones. An Israeli C-130 aircraft had flown from Israel into Malta airspace in the hours preceding the bombing and returned to Israel immediately after the explosions on the “Conscience.”
In a demonstration of U.S. complicity in the attempts to stop flotilla ships, in the afternoon before the bombing, the certification and flag of the “Conscience” was declared void by the issuing country Palau, which is economically and militarily dependent on the US through the Compact of Free Association. We are currently investigating who in the US government gave orders to its compliant state Palau to decertify the ship.
Israeli Massacres of Palestinians in Gaza continues
The Handala launches in the shadow of ongoing mass atrocities. Since March 18, 2025 — when Israel broke the ceasefire and resumed attacks on Gaza — at least 6,572 Palestinians have been killed and over 23,000 injured, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Among them, over 700 gunned down as they waited for food at distribution points controlled by the U.S.- and Israel-backed “Gaza Humanitarian Foundation” (GHF)—a death trap masquerading as an aid scheme; a structure of control and cruelty serving Israel’s genocide.
The Handala is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a grassroots international network that has been sailing against the blockade since 2010. On board will be volunteer medics, lawyers, social justice activists, journalists, and community organizers. We are not governments. We are people, taking action where institutions have failed.
Handala - For the children of Gaza
Named after the Palestinian cartoon figure Handala—a barefoot refugee child who turned his back on injustice and vowed not to turn around until Palestine is free—this boat carries his spirit, and that of every child in Gaza who has been denied safety, dignity, and joy.
In 2023 and 2024, Handala sailed to ports across Europe and the UK, breaking through the media blockade, engaging the public, and building solidarity through press events, art installations, and political education in every port it visited.
“The Voyage of the Handala,” a new documentary about the Israeli destruction of Gaza and the mission of the Handala is being shown during the launch events in Siracusa, Sicily July 11 and 12.
The Handala mission is for the Children of Gaza—who make up over half of Gaza’s population—who have been living under a brutal blockade and siege for their entire lives. Since October 2023, over 50,000 have been killed or injured, tens of thousands orphaned, and nearly a million forcibly displaced and homeless. All now face famine, disease, and trauma few of us can imagine.
Ann Wright served 29 years in the US Army/Army Reserves and retired as a Colonel. She was also a US diplomat for 16 years and served in US embassies in Nicaragua, Grenada, Somalia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Sierra Leone, Micronesia, Afghanistan and Mongolia. She resigned from the US government in March 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq. She is on the steering committee of the Gaza flotilla coalition and is a member of Veterans For Peace, CODEPINK: Women for Peace, World Beyond War and many other peace organizations. She is the co-author of “Dissent: Voices of Conscience.”