UN experts, including Francesca Albanese, have called for safe passage for the Madleen, urging Israel to “refrain from any act of hostility” against the ship and its passengers.
Activists on board the Freedom Flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip issued a distress signal during the night on Wednesday as drones “repeatedly” hovered over the ship, while UN experts demanded their safe passage.
At 11:24pm CEST +1,68km away from Greek territorial waters, a drone began to hover above the Madleen, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said in a statement.
“Team on the land have heard back from Search and Rescue who have reported that it was a Helenic Coast Guard Heron surveillance drone,” the statement noted, adding “everyone on the ‘Madleen’ is safe.”
These people risked their lives for us — I pray that no harm comes to them.
Support them; they truly need our support. https://t.co/o9bSAwRczL— Omar Hamad | عُـمَـرْ 𓂆 (@OmarHamadD) June 3, 2025
A few hours later, the Brazilian activist, Thiago Avila, issued another audio alert saying: “We have been surrounded by drones for 22 minutes.”
He said one of the two drones “gains on us, comes closer to us and then turns back. This is five times already.”
‘Psychological Warfare’
The activist said they tried to confirm with the Greek coast guard “and it’s not them” and “no other authority” confirmed the origin of the drones.
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“We explained that we have been attacked by Israeli drones four weeks ago, but still no one (has) confirmed the identity” of the drones.
He said it could be “a psychological warfare operation, this could be surveillance drones but there is always the possibility that this could be an attack as well.”
Global Call for Lobbying
On Wednesday afternoon, the FFC issued another statement that “After drones repeatedly hovered over the Madleen last night, we need people of the world to help tag and email their foreign ministry.”
The volunteers aboard “are delivering life-saving aid to Gaza,” the statement noted, adding “They are unarmed, carrying only food, medicine, and baby formula, and acting fully within international law.”
“We have to do everything we can to demand an end to these atrocities and war crimes committed by Israel,” says @gretathunberg.
The Swedish climate activist speaks to @democracynow from the Mediterranean Sea, aboard the Madleen, as she and other activists sail to Gaza to deliver… pic.twitter.com/a4PXQQDkmy
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) June 4, 2025
“It’s time for world governments to step up. Demand they protect their citizens aboard the ‘Madleen’ and stop enabling Israel’s war crimes. Safe passage is a legal obligation, and a moral one,” the statement added.
The Madleen departed Catania, Sicily, on Sunday with twelve humanitarians on board with the aim of breaking Israel’s siege on Gaza.
The activists on board include climate activist Greta Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a member of the European parliament.
‘Peaceful Act of Resistance’
Named after Gaza’s first and only fisherwoman, the Madleen’s voyage comes just one month after Israeli drones bombed Conscience, another Freedom Flotilla aid ship, in international waters off the coast of Malta.
After drones repeatedly hovered over the #Madleen last night, we need people of the world to help tag and email their foreign ministry. The volunteers aboard are delivering life-saving aid to Gaza. They are unarmed, carrying only food, medicine, and baby formula, and acting fully… pic.twitter.com/QWWEqxWO1D
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) June 4, 2025
The ship is carrying “urgently needed” supplies for the people of Gaza, including baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and children’s prosthetics.
The FFC emphasized “that this is a peaceful act of civil resistance.”
“All volunteers and crew aboard Madleen are trained in nonviolence. They are sailing unarmed, united by the shared belief that Palestinians deserve the same rights, freedom, and dignity as all people,” it stated.
The ship may be live-tracked here.
‘Israel Must Not Interfere’ – UN Experts
UN experts, including Francesca Albanese, on Monday called for safe passage for the Madleen, urging Israel to “refrain from any act of hostility” against the ship and its passengers.
“Aid is desperately needed for the people of Gaza to forestall annihilation, and this initiative is a symbolic and powerful effort to deliver it. Israel should remember that the world is watching closely and refrain from any act of hostility against the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and its passengers,” the experts said.
We, UN Independent Experts, urge Member States to protect the Flotilla—whose members are doing what humanity demands, international law protects, and governments too often choose to forget.
Breaking the siege is a collective responsibility. https://t.co/67O80Yu5e3
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) June 3, 2025
They said the people of Gaza “have the right to receive aid through their own territorial waters even under occupation, and the Coalition ship has the right to free passage in international waters to reach the people of Gaza,” they said.
“Israel must not interfere with its freedom of navigation, long recognised under international law,” the experts stressed.
‘Comply with IHL’
They expressed serious concern for the safety of participants in the Freedom Flotilla, given Israel’s repeated violent attacks on human rights defenders and UN and civilian humanitarian missions.
“Israel has imposed a full blockade on Gaza for 17 years. This blockade has been total and absolute since 2 March 2025, preventing aid from entering the Strip for over 80 days, only recently allowing a trickle of aid to enter,” the experts said.
Dr Mohammed Mustafa joined the gathering of local and international supporters who gathered in solidarity as they bid farewell to the #Madleen from Catania, Sicily. Having served on two medical missions to #Gaza, Dr Mustafa has seen firsthand the devastation wrought on its… pic.twitter.com/grWqYkR36W
— Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@GazaFFlotilla) June 4, 2025
“As the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s ship approaches Palestinian territorial waters off Gaza, Israel must adhere to international law and comply with orders from the International Court of Justice to ensure unimpeded access for humanitarian aid,” they said.
ICJ and ICC Cases
The experts pointed out that in March 2024, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued provisional measures recognising that famine and starvation were rampant in Gaza, creating a risk of genocide.
In November 2024, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu for the war crime of starvation.
A new Freedom Flotilla vessel, “Madleen,” is sailing towards Gaza to try to break Israel’s siege after the first mission was halted when a drone attack hit and damaged the ship on international waters. pic.twitter.com/OkWhBdPHPy
— AJ+ (@ajplus) June 4, 2025
“Yet on 1 March 2025, he announced that the entry of all goods and supplies to the Gaza Strip would be halted, flagrantly defying international law,” the experts said.
“Over six hundred days into Israel’s starvation campaign and genocidal violence against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the situation is at its most horrific,” they warned.
US-Backed Aid Plan Slammed
The experts stressed that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by Israel and the US, is using aid as a weapon of war to displace, humiliate and corral civilians.
“These practices violate international legal principles of dignity, humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality,” they said, noting that child acute malnutrition had increased by more than 80% in March 2025.
Confidential EU Document Accuses Israel of Weaponizing Starvation in Gaza
“The accumulation of trucks carrying humanitarian aid at the Rafah crossing while civilians starve and die is not a failure of coordination — it is the deliberate and willful weaponisation of humanitarian aid, and the international community seems to be complicit,” the experts said.
“Member States have a legal obligation and a moral imperative to stop starvation and genocide in Gaza,” they emphasized.
The experts urged the UN General Assembly to authorise the deployment of peacekeepers to accompany humanitarian aid trucks under the ‘Uniting for Peace’ provision of the UN Charter.
According to Israel’s Army Radio, cited by the Anadolu news agency, the Israeli military said “it is enforcing the security maritime closure on Gaza and is preparing for a variety of scenarios,” without elaborating further.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
What they’re doing is brave, noble, valiant…but they know that ” Israel ” isn’t going to just let them walk in and pass out the aid to everyone. It looks good on paper, but this is bound to fail and they’ll be turned away or arrested and harassed. Nazinyahu, Gvir, Smotrich, and Katz will claim they work for Hamas. No one will stop it and after some time, America will step in to ” save the day ” and murder a bunch of innocent Palestinians while abandoning these activists to rescue a few Israeli captives from Hamas.
I sincerely hope i’m wrong…but, 2+2=?????