Activist ship Handala sails from Italy to Gaza

Shafaq News – Rome

On Sunday, the international activist ship Handala set sail from the Italian port of Gallipoli en route to the Gaza Strip, in a symbolic attempt to break the Israeli blockade.

After departing from Syracuse, Sicily, on July 13 and stopping in Gallipoli, the ship carries international volunteers, including activists, medics, lawyers, and parliamentarians. Organizers describe the mission as peaceful and emphasize that it aims to highlight the severe humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

European Parliament member Emma Fourreau told Al Jazeera that the mission reflects growing international outrage, accusing the European Parliament of complicity in the siege and destruction of Gaza. “Netanyahu and his government are responsible for the suffering in Gaza,” she added.

The ship is named after Handala, an iconic cartoon character created by the Palestinian cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1969. Handala is consistently depicted as a barefoot, ragged boy with his back to the viewer and his hands clasped behind him, a posture he maintains because he famously vowed not to show his face until Palestine is free. This distinctive stance symbolizes his refusal to acknowledge a world that has turned its back on the Palestinian people.

The initiative is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a network of pro-Palestinian organizations that has launched several maritime missions over the past decade in defiance of Israeli naval restrictions.

Prior to the Handala, the coalition launched at least two other vessels toward Gaza this year: the Conscience in May, which reportedly suffered a drone attack off Malta and was forced to abort its mission, and the Madeleine in June, which was intercepted in international waters by Israeli forces. The Madeleine, which carried humanitarian supplies and prominent activists including Greta Thunberg, had its crew detained and deported.