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FFC’s Handala Launches from Gallipoli, Begins Final Leg of Its Journey to Break the Blockade — For the Children of Gaza [1]
['Ffc Media Team']
Date: 2025-07-20
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 20, 2025
Contact: Hay Sha Wiya, Press Officer
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Gallipoli, Italy, July 20, 2025 — The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) announces that Handala, our civilian aid boat, launched today from Gallipoli, Italy, beginning the final leg of its journey to Gaza. This marks a determined step in our ongoing effort to confront and break Israel’s illegal and deadly blockade of the Palestinian people in Gaza. Handala carries life-saving humanitarian aid and a message of solidarity from people across the world refusing to stay silent as Gaza is starved, bombed, and buried under rubble.
SUSPECTED SABOTAGE JUST HOURS BEFORE DEPARTURE
Just hours before launching, Handala was the target of two deeply alarming incidents that appear to be deliberate sabotage intended to obstruct our mission and harm our crew.
On the night of July 19 or early morning July 20, a rope was discovered tightly wound around the boat’s propeller. This could not have occurred through normal use or by accident. It was a direct threat to the safety of our vessel and its ability to sail.
Even more dangerous, on the morning of July 20, the truck sent to deliver fresh water to our boat for washing and cooking on the journey, carried not water, but sulfuric acid. It splashed on a crew member’s leg, causing chemical burns. Another crew member who smelled the substance and opened the container sustained burns to his hand.
We have video footage of the individuals who delivered this dangerous substance. We call for an immediate investigation and full accountability for these acts.
Despite this suspected sabotage, we remain undeterred. The attempt to harm our team and silence this mission will not succeed.
This mission comes just weeks after Israel’s illegal attack on the Madleen, another Freedom Flotilla boat, which was violently seized 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 forcibly taken to Israel, where they were interrogated, abused, and then deported. Their only “crime”? Attempting to bring food, medicine, and solidarity to Palestinians under siege.
Handala is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a grassroots international network that has been sailing against the blockade since 2010. On board are volunteer medics, lawyers, social justice activists, journalists, and community organizers. We are not governments. We are people, taking action where institutions have failed.
“The Flotilla is a collective act of conscience,” said Huwaida Arraf, human rights attorney, co-founder of the Interntional Solidarity Movement and Freedom Flotilla steering committee member. “We are everyday people from around the world standing together to confront Israel’s ongoing war crimes and to affirm the right of Palestinians in Gaza to live with freedom and dignity.
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 and building global solidarity through public events, art installations, and political education.
The children of Gaza, who make up more than half the population, have lived their entire lives under blockade. Since October 2023, over 50,000 children have been killed or wounded, tens of thousands orphaned, and nearly a million displaced and homeless. Now, famine, disease, and trauma threaten every aspect of their survival.
This mission is for them.
We Will Not Be Silenced
We sail for the children of Gaza—for families who are enduring siege, starvation, and slaughter while governments of the world participate or do nothing. We sail to break Israel’s illegal blockade and deliver life-saving aid, solidarity, and hope to a people abandoned by our governments but never forgotten by us, the people, who believe in justice and will never stop fighting for it.
We call on the international community, human rights organizations, and people of conscience everywhere to condemn these acts, demand accountability, and ensure safe passage for the Handala—a civilian boat carrying medicine, baby formula, and stuffed animals for the children of Gaza.
[END]
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[1] Url:
https://freedomflotilla.org/2025/07/20/ffcs-handala-launches-from-gallipoli-begins-final-leg-of-its-journey-to-break-the-blockade-for-the-children-of-gaza/
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