A second group of international activists with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition are en route to Gaza to challenge Israel’s blockade. Their ship, named the Handala, launched from Italy five days ago carrying humanitarian aid desperately needed by Gaza’s starving population. The Freedom Flotilla’s most recent attempt to deliver aid was prevented by the Israeli military when their ship was raided and seized in international waters. Seven out of the 21 volunteers aboard the Handala are U.S. citizens, including our guest, the Palestinian American human rights attorney Huwaida Arraf. Arraf has participated in Freedom Flotilla missions for over a decade, and was a member of the 2010 sailing in which 10 activists were killed during a raid on their boat by Israeli forces. Ahead of the current mission, crew members reported two instances of suspected sabotage. “But that did not stop us,” she says. “The blockade was illegal at 2008; it is illegal and deadly and part of a genocide now. … The entire world is allowing Israel — has allowed Israel to turn Gaza into an extermination camp.”
This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.
Democracy Now! | Radio Free (2025-07-25T12:40:26+00:00) Freedom Flotilla Sails to Gaza to Break Israel’s “Engineered Famine”: Activist Huwaida Arraf. Retrieved from https://www.radiofree.org/2025/07/25/freedom-flotilla-sails-to-gaza-to-break-israels-engineered-famine-activist-huwaida-arraf/
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