British-flagged yacht operated by pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition was making symbolic attempt to deliver aid
Israel’s military took control of a boat trying to deliver food to Palestinians in Gaza in the early hours of Monday morning, and brought its crew of activists including Greta Thunberg to an Israeli port.
The Madleen was making a symbolic attempt to break to the blockade of Gaza and raise awareness of a looming “starvation crisis”.
It was never likely to get through Israel’s naval blockade of the territory, where UN-backed experts have warned of looming famine, and dozens of people have been killed by Israeli forces trying to reach food distribution centres.
Even attempting to reach Gaza by boat is risky. In May, another boat sailing as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organised the Madleen’s voyage, caught fire off Malta and issued an SOS after what the group said was an attack by Israeli drones. Israel’s military declined to comment.
In 2010, nine activists were killed when Israeli commandos raided a small fleet of ships trying to take supplies including building materials to Gaza. Israel began blockading Gaza in 2007.
Among the last communications from the Madleen before it lost communications was a photo showing the 12-strong crew gathered in a circle, wearing lifejackets, with their hands in the air.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, June 1, 2025
ISRAEL’S far-right defence minister vowed today to prevent an aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists from reaching the Gaza Strip.
The remarks by Israel Katz comes as the Israelis continue to carry out their attacks on Palestinians desperately seeking aid in Gaza.
Mr Katz said today that Israel wouldn’t allow anyone to break its naval blockade of the Palestinian territory, which he said was aimed at preventing Hamas from importing arms.
“To the anti-semitic Greta and her fellow Hamas propagandists — I will say this clearly: You should turn back, because you will not make it to Gaza,” he said in a statement.
Ms Thunberg, a climate campaigner, is among 12 activists aboard the Madleen, which is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The vessel departed Sicily last Sunday on a mission that aims to break the sea blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave.
The vessel was expected to reach Gaza’s territorial waters this evening.
After a three-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless the blockade [is lifted] and the war end[s].
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAUK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
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UNRWA Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini on April 30, 2024 [FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images]
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), on Saturday condemned Israel’s ongoing ban on international journalists entering Gaza, calling it an unprecedented act in modern conflict, Anadolu reports.
“This is unprecedented in any other conflict in modern history,” Lazzarini said in a statement.
“It is a ban on the truth. It is a ban on reporting the facts. It is the perfect recipe to fuel misinformation, deepening polarization and dehumanization.”
He stressed the importance of allowing independent reporting and supporting local journalists: “International journalists must independently report from Gaza and support their Palestinian colleagues who continue to do a heroic job at a heavy price.”
“Nearly 200 of them were reported killed since the war began,” said Lazzarini, stressing that “the ban on international media must be lifted.”
Separately, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) on Saturday reiterated its call for cooperation from the Israeli government over allegations made against the agency, stating that no credible evidence has been provided despite repeated requests.
“UNRWA has repeatedly requested cooperation and evidence from Israel regarding the serious allegations made against the Agency,” the agency said in an official statement.
“After 20 months, UNRWA has not received any response, nor has the Government of Israel shared any sufficient evidence.”
The agency emphasized its continued commitment to its humanitarian mandate, stating: “UNRWA remains committed to its mandate and is ready to deliver humanitarian assistance at scale in Gaza, together with other UN agencies.”
Israel, rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, has pursued a genocidal offensive in Gaza since October 2023, killing nearly 54,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children. Aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among the enclave’s more than 2 million inhabitants.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
A view of devastation after Israeli strikes on various areas in Gaza on the second day of Eid al-Adha, June 7, 2025. [Khames Alrefi – Anadolu Agency]
Beginning early Saturday, Israeli air strikes and gunfire killed at least 65 Palestinians and injured around 100 more in the Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources, Anadolu reports.
Medical sources told Anadolu that on day two of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, at least 15 Palestinians, including six children, were killed and over 50 others injured when Israeli warplanes struck a residential home with two missiles in the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.
Rescue teams on the ground fear that the death toll will rise to more than 30, as many people are still missing and possibly trapped under the rubble.
Twelve people, including four members of a single family, were killed and over 40 others wounded in Israeli shelling that targeted tents sheltering displaced Palestinians west of Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.
Seven more Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike that targeted a house sheltering displaced people west of Gaza City.
Two Palestinians were killed when Israeli artillery targeted a group of civilians in the Al-Saftawi neighborhood in northern Gaza.
Three others were killed in an air strike targeting a civilian gathering in the Abu Shrekh area, west of the Jabalia refugee camp.
Another three Palestinians, including a child, were killed in a separate strike on a house near the Al-Mujayda fuel station in the same area.
A medical official at Nasser Hospital reported that six people were killed when an Israeli drone struck the town of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis.
Elsewhere in Khan Younis, a separate drone strike in the al-Amal neighborhood killed one person and wounded another.
Eight more Palestinians were killed when an Israeli strike targeted a group of civilians in the Jabalia al-Nazla area, medical sources told Anadolu.
Two more people were killed in another Israeli strike that hit the al-Faluja area of Jabalia, the same sources added.
Separately, six Palestinians were shot dead by Israeli forces near an aid distribution center west of Rafah. Several others were injured.
The total number of Palestinians killed by Israeli gunfire while trying to access humanitarian aid under a controversial new system since May 27 has risen to 115, with more than 580 wounded and nine still missing, according to a tally by Anadolu based on Palestinian sources.
On Friday alone, the first day of Eid al-Adha, 33 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes and shelling across several areas of the Gaza Strip.
With two Eids (major Muslim holidays) per year under the Muslim calendar system, this is the fourth Eid for Gazans since October 2023, when Israel launched a genocidal war which has killed nearly 54,800 Palestinians, created famine conditions, and left the enclave all but uninhabitable.
“This latest shameful U.S. veto—one in a long list—gives Israel the green light to continue its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” said the head of Amnesty International.
For the fifth time since Israel launched its genocidal assault and siege of the Gaza Strip—and for the first time during President Donald Trump’s tenure—the United States has vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a cease-fire, a move that came as Palestinians continue to suffer daily massacres, mass starvation, and ethnic cleansing in the embattled enclave.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Dorothy Shea—a former political officer at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel—was the lone vote against the Security Council draft resolution demanding an “immediate, unconditional, and permanent cease-fire” in Gaza and the release of all remaining hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian resistance groups.
“Any product that undermines our close ally Israel’s security is a nonstarter,” Shea explained after sinking the resolution. In addition to diplomatic cover, the U.S. provides Israel with tens of billions of dollars in armed aid, including weapons that have been used in some of the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) deadliest massacres in Gaza.
#BREAKING UN Security Council FAILS TO ADOPT draft resolution that would have demanded an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and the release of all hostages held by Hamas and other groups
The resolution was put forth by the 10 non-permanent Security Council members—Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, Pakistan, Panama, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Somalia, and South Korea—who explained Wednesday in a joint statement that the measure was “prompted by our deep concern over the catastrophic situation in Gaza, which deteriorated further after the resumption of hostilities in March.”
According toThe Palestine Chronicle, Hamas—which governs Gaza and led the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel—said the U.S. veto shows “Washington’s blind bias towards the occupation government” and support for Israel’s “crimes against humanity in Gaza.”
At least hundreds of Gazans, mostly children, have recently died from malnutrition and lack of medical care amid Israel’s tightened siege, according to local officials. Israeli airstrikes continue to kill and wound scores of Palestinians—and sometimes more—daily, and upward of 100 Gazans have been shot dead while desperately trying to secure humanitarian aid in recent days.
“This latest shameful U.S. veto—one in a long list—gives Israel the green light to continue its genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard said in a statement. “It allows Israel to continue starving Palestinian civilians and creating conditions of life meant to bring about their destruction.”
In addition to vetoing five Security Council cease-fire resolutions, the U.S. last year used its veto power to block Palestine’s bid to become a full U.N. member. The U.S. also abstained from voting on two Security Council cease-fire resolutions during the Biden administration.
“The U.S. has squandered yet another crucial opportunity to demand that Israel ends civilian bloodshed,” Callamard added. “What possible justification can there be for blocking action by the U.N. Security Council that could help to end the harrowing starvation and suffering, free hostages, and lift Israel’s suffocating aid restrictions?”
Hand of Genocide:
US vetoes UNSC resolution for immediate ceasefire in Gaza, giving green light for continued genocide. pic.twitter.com/S3veRmFQUF
All told, more than 194,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded—including over 14,000 people who are missing and believed dead and buried beneath rubble—during 606 days of an onslaught for which Israel is facing a genocide case at the World Court and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and weaponized starvation.
Upward of 2 million Palestinians have also been forcibly displaced, often multiple times, most recently during Operation Gideon’s Chariots, the IDF’s ongoing campaign to indefinitely occupy and ethnically cleanse Gaza, possibly to facilitate Israeli recolonization, as pushed by far-right figures.
On Wednesday, International Committee of the Red Cross president Mirjana Spoljaric said conditions in Gaza are “worse” than last month, when she described them as “hell on Earth.”
All this, as a cease-fire proves as elusive as ever due to what pro-Palestine critics say is Netanyahu’s desire to prolong the war in order to delay his own criminal corruption trial and Hamas’ demand for a guaranteed end to Israel’s onslaught.
“The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded, or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat,” Tom Fletcher, the U.N.’s top humanitarian chief, said Wednesday. “We must be allowed to do our jobs. We have the teams, the plan, the supplies, and the experience.”
“It’s simply unconscionable to stand in the way of this resolution.”
Amnesty International USA executive director Paul O’Brien said: “Once again, the U.S. government, this time under Trump’s leadership, is on the wrong side of history. While it’s not a surprise the U.S. vetoed this resolution, it’s nonetheless devastating.”
“The language is focused on the urgency of the unconditional release of all hostages and unfettered access to humanitarian aid,” O’Brien added. “When children are dying of starvation and the fate of the hostages is uncertain, it’s simply unconscionable to stand in the way of this resolution.”
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag after boarding the Madleen boat and before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy, June 1, 2025
