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Madleen, a boat Seized by Israeli forces while on the way to Gazacould still be stuck in a port off the coast of Israel. But the activists who piloted him are busy planning their next attempt – but with another boat.
Appointed from a famous fisherman in Gaza, Madleen has navigated from Italy, aimed at providing a symbolic amount of help and drawing attention to the spell of the enclave, which was devastated by 20 month of war. It was the 36th expedition of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) since 2008.
But while the group is waiting to hear civil servants on the status of the boat, Zohar Chamberlain Regev, member of the FFC, is in Sicily, fixing another boat for another shipment in Gaza.
The group had tried to sail in this ship, called Handala, from Norway to Gaza in 2024. This trip ended early in Malta because they thought the boat was too old to make the trip. But they will soon try again, from Sicily.
“Our main objective is to send a message of solidarity and encouragement to the Palestinian resistance to millions of people under occupation,” REGEV told CBC News.
Look | Madleen Kolab says it was honored, the boat was appointed according to her:
While Madleen’s help vessel remains in police custody, the first fisherman of Gaza, Madleen Kolab, spoke with the independent CBC videographer, Mohamed El Saife, to be the homonym behind the 36th expedition of the Freedom Flatilla and its hopes in the middle of the current war.
Little success in sailing in Gaza
Over the years, many FFC boats have been seized by Israeli forces. Recovering them involves time in court – and even then, it is not guaranteed.
Madleen is the third boat for which Regev will have to appear in court. The Israeli citizen based in Frankfurt, which is its registered owner, says that she has yet heard anything from the authorities.
“But every time they do it [reach out]”She said,” I’m going to tell them that this boat was on the way to Gaza; They had nothing to do. “”
The first five group expeditions, which were all in 2008, were the only ones to go to Gaza and leave. From 2009, Regev says that no boat could reach the banks of the enclave.
“Some boats were hit at sea and then rescued; some boats were returned by the occupation to their owners.”
She says that the group reused the boats that have been returned or sold them to finance future activities.
Unclear aid status
Help on board is generally not part of Gaza either, says the FFC. REGEV says that she has no information on supplies aboard Madleen.
Israeli authorities did not respond to CBC comments on aid. But they previously told Reuters that he would be sent to Gaza by what they called “real humanitarian channels”.
Despite the numerous unsuccessful attempts, REGEV says that it is firmly in pursuit of the objectives of the coalition.
“We do it because we appreciate the freedom we have to do with things,” she said. “It is much more terrifying for me to think that there is a genocide in progress, committed by my own people, and I assist myself here in complete safety and I do nothing.” (Israel has always denied He commits a genocide in Gaza.)
She did not develop the group’s strategy for their next trip. But she said that the coalition will continue to try to sail on her boats to Gaza until the Israeli blockade on the band is lifted.
A cause, different realities
For Madleen Kolab, 31, the ocean has been her life since she was a little girl who learns to fish from her father. After falling ill at the age of 13, she assumed her position. She says she is The first and the only fisherman in Gaza.
“I was honored to want to use my name for the boat,” she told CBC Freelance the videographer Mohamed El Saife, while walking along the shore of a beach in Gaza City.
The mother of four is pregnant with her fifth child and says that she can barely find food to feed her children. The war made too dangerous for her to fish, she says, and she has trouble paying the essential elements, because the cost of food in Gaza has soared.
She had looked closely at her homonymous boat trip and had anticipated her arrival, as well as her promised help.
“We were very sad when we heard that the boat was intercepted,” she said. “If the boat arrived, it meant life for us.”
Kolab was seated on the sand while the tide launched. From the Mediterranean in Sicily, Regev was preparing the 37th flotilla of his group to get into a sail. Although the two women are bound by a single cause, they live in surprisingly different realities.
“I hope that when he sails, the war will be over, the seat is broken,” said Kolab, “and we can see him.”
