Seyma Yigit and Efe Ozkan
08 June 2025•Update: 08 June 2025
ANKARA / ISTANBUL
Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament (EP) aboard the Madleen, a Freedom Flotilla Coalition sailboat that set sail to break the blockade on Gaza and deliver aid to the region, called on President Emmanuel Macron to help ensure the sailboat's safe arrival in Gaza on Sunday.
Hassan tagged Macron's and the French Foreign Ministry's official accounts in a post on her X account, requesting assistance hours before their arrival in Gaza.
“We urgently request a maritime corridor to deliver the humanitarian aid on board,” she said.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz, meanwhile, has ordered the military to prevent the vessel from reaching Gaza.
The Israeli Navy is preparing to intercept the humanitarian vessel as it approaches Gaza’s waters, with plans to forcibly redirect it to Ashdod port.
Sharing a photo of his meeting with Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and naval commanders, Katz said: “I have instructed the Israeli military to do whatever is necessary to prevent the Madleen hate flotilla from reaching Gaza. I am clearly telling the anti-Semitic Greta and Hamas propaganda spokespeople: Turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
As part of the latest mission organized by the FFC to break the blockade on Gaza and deliver aid to the region, the 18-meter sailing boat Madleen set sail for Gaza on June 1 from the Port of San Giovanni Li Cuti in Catania, Sicily, Italy.
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, according to its organizers.
