Two Attempts at Sabotage of Gaza Flotilla Ship Handala Hours before Sailing to Gaza
Seven U.S. Citizens on board the Gaza Flotilla ship Handala Heading to Gaza
Colonel (ret) Ann Wright
Mere hours before the Gaza 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: “Just hours before departure, the ‘Handala’ faced two alarming incidents: a rope wrapped around the propeller and a delivery labeled as water that contained a corrosive chemical, injuring crew members. These may be calculated attempts to harm us and stop our mission.
We will not be intimidated. We sail for the children of Gaza—against siege, starvation, and slaughter. We sail to break Israel’s illegal blockade and deliver life-saving aid and hope.
We call on the world to demand accountability and ensure safe passage for this civilian mission.”
Despite the two attempts at sabotage, the Gaza Freedom flotilla coalition sailed its next ship to break the illegal Israeli blockade of Gaza.
The Handala departed for Gaza on July 20, 2025 two hours later than its scheduled departure from the Italian port of Gallipoli after stops in Augusta and Siracusa in Sicily. The journey to Gaza may take around 7 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 the 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, UK 1; Israel -2 US citizens have dual citizenship with Israel.
U.S. Citizens on the Handala
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 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 co-founder 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.
Other participants on the Handala are:
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 worked as a humanitarian worker in Haiti & Congo .
Vigdis Bjorvand is a 70-year-old activist from Norway. A grandmother, says she never wants her grandchild to say, “Grandma, you didn’t do anything.” She was on the Handala in 2023.
Antoinio La Piccirella is a mariner from Italy with worldwide activist experience.
Sergio Toribio Sanchez is a maritime mariner from Spain. He was also on the flotilla ship Madleen last month and filed a lawsuit against the Israeli government for involvement in war crimes and crimes against humanity linked to the attack on the Madleen.
Ange Sahuquet is a maritime engineer from France who served on the activist boat Sea Shepard.
Santiago González Vallejo is a Spanish activist with the flotilla coalition partner Rumbo a Gaza.
Tan Safi from Australia has been a key part of the flotilla media team creating many Instagram posts for the various voyages since 2024.
Mohamed El Bakkali is an al Jazeera journalist from Morocco.
Antonio Mazzeo is an award-winning journalist from Italy. In 2020, he was awarded the “Golden Dove for Peace” by the Archivio Disarmo in recognition “for having interpreted journalism and writing for years as a mission to defend human rights and denounce injustice.”
Robert Martin is a member of Australian Boats to Gaza and is a social media influencer.
Justine Kempf is a nurse from France who has worked with Doctors Without Borders in the DRC and will be the medical person onboard.
Chloe Ludden recently resigned her position working with the United Nations in New York because of the Israeli genocide of Gaza and is from the UK and France.
Hatem Aouini is an longtime activist from Tunisia.
The ship has been in the Gaza flotilla fleet since 2023 and made two Northern European educational community voyages before arriving in the Mediterranean in 2025.
Monitor the progress of the Handala voyage here.
Update on other Flotilla ships
The ship “Conscience” that was bombed by Israel in international waters off Malta in May 2025 is in Turkey. The international maritime community has still not investigated the bombing of a civilian ship in international waters.
The unarmed, civilian ship “Madleen” that was stolen from the Gaza Freedom flotilla 110 nautical miles off Gaza in international waters is illegally seized and remains in Israel. The participants who were kidnapped, arrested and taken against their wills to Israel are all home after having been imprisoned in Israel and deported.
We Will Not be Deterred by Sabotage Attempts
As stated in our Instagram post: "We will not be intimidated. We sail for the children of Gaza—against siege, starvation, and slaughter. We sail to break Israel’s illegal blockade and deliver life-saving aid and hope.
We call on the world to demand accountability and ensure safe passage for this civilian mission.”
Ann Wright is a retired US Army Colonel and a former US diplomat who resigned in 2003 in opposition to the US war on Iraq. She is a member of US Boats to Gaza and is on the Steering Committee of the Gaza Flotilla coalition. She was in Gaza 10 times between 2009 and 2014 and was on two flotilla boats that were seized in international waters in 2010 and 2016. She was imprisoned and deported also.
Sail On amazing ship, giving hope and love to thousands of persecuted, starved and wounded women, children, elderly and brave men of Gaza, struggling to survive day by day under the horrific crimes of genocidal rockets, drones and bombs by the Israelis, and from the U.S. We must all fight to bring this tragic nightmare to and end now! Give Palestine back to the Palestinians!