Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Blockade-Busting Boat Heads for Gaza

A ship carrying some 70 pro-Palestinian activists, including an Israeli-Arab lawmaker, set sail from Crete to Gaza.

The Swedish Marianne of Gothenburg ship is expected to arrive Sunday off the coast of Gaza in a bid to defy Israel’s naval blockade, the site news.walla.co.il reported Friday, hours after the vessel sailed.

Both Israel and Egypt have imposed strict limitations on the movement of materials and people in and out of the Strip, which is ruled by the Islamist Hamas movement, considered a terrorist group by both countries.

Marianne is to be joined by four vessels, according to Dror Feiler, a pro-Palestinian, Israel-born activist who spoke to Walla from aboard the ship.

Also on board are Basel Ghattas, an Israeli-Arab lawmaker, and former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, along with food supplies and solar panels, the Ma’an news agency reported.

“At long last, we are on the Marianne,” Ghattas wrote in Hebrew on his Facebook page early Friday. “After hardships that will yet be discussed, we are sailing to Gaza.”

On Thursday, Feiler told a Nazareth-based radio station, Radio Al-Shams, that “unknown hands” had tampered with one of the boats making its way to the Strip, damaging it.

In the past, Israel’s navy has intercepted ships attempting to breach the blockade. The foreign ministry said aid groups may send supplies to Israel for inspection, after which permissible goods would be transferred to Gaza.

In 2010, an Israeli navy commando takeover of a Turkish ship carrying activists armed with knives and clubs ended with nine Turkish nationals dead.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.