Friday 25/July/2025 – 02:30 PM
The Freedom Flotilla Alliance announced the resumption of contact with the Handhala ship, which is sailing in the direction of the Gaza Strip as part of a new attempt to break the Israeli siege, after a mysterious interruption in the communication that lasted for about two hours.
The Freedom Fleet Alliance regies the contact with the Handhala ship heading to Gaza
In a statement published by the coalition at dawn on Friday, through its official channel on “Telegram”, he explained that contacting the ship was cut off in disturbing circumstances, coinciding with the monitoring of a number of drones flying near its surroundings, which sparked fears of the possibility of being attacked similar to what previously faced previous ships within the fleet.
The statement stressed that the contact returned to the ship, and that it is still continuing its journey, noting that it is now sailing nearly 349 nautical miles from the beaches of Gaza.
In a video clip recorded on the ship, the activist participating in the trip, “Tan Safi”, said that the team was not aware of the existence of a global interruption in the Internet service of “Starlink”, which is affiliated with Elon Musk, during the time of the loss of communication. She considered that what happened is unnatural, adding: “This is not the first time that Elon has cooperated with Israel, but it seems that what happened is closer to a sudden global interruption.
Safi indicated that the drones are still hovering around the ship, which enhances fears of the possibility of imminent military intervention.
Yesterday, Thursday, the coalition announced the loss of full contact with the “Handala” ship, at the time, at the time that it was subjected to an objection or an attack, especially in light of the extensive presence of the enlightenings in its vicinity.
Hanzala ship journey towards Gaza
The Handala ship sailed on July 13 from the Italian port of Sri Law, then stopped on the 15th of the same month in Gallipoli’s port due to technical problems, before continuing its journey again towards Gaza on July 20, with 21 activists of different nationalities on board.
This move is the latest in a series of international civil attempts to break the maritime blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip, which led to the prevention of the entry of humanitarian aid and the deprivation of the population of the basic supplies.
Previous attacks on Freedom Ships
It should be noted that the Israeli occupation forces had previously targeted previous ships belonging to the Freedom Fleet, including the “conscience” ship, which was attacked by a drone on May 2, which led to a hole in its structure and a fire in the forefront.
On June 9, the Israeli navy took control of the “Madeleine” ship while sailing in international waters towards Gaza, and arrested 12 activists on board before they left them later after forcing them to sign a pledge not to return.
A continuous siege on Gaza
Since October 7, 2023, the Gaza Strip has been facing an unprecedented Israeli aggression, which human rights and international bodies have described as “genocide”, where the population has been killed, starved and displaced amid a mass destruction of infrastructure, in complete ignorance of the decisions of the International Court of Justice and the International Call to stop the war.
This war has so far resulted in more than 203,000 martyrs and wounded, most of them women and children, in addition to more than 11 thousand missing, and widespread destruction led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands, amid outbreaks of famine and diseases in the besieged sector.
