MEP Rima Hassan announces she will travel to Gaza by boat with Greta Thunberg

Franco-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan announced that she will board a humanitarian ship bound for Gaza on Sunday, along with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. "I will be with Greta Thunberg, the crew of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition," a group of NGOs denouncing the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and "other activists," the LFI representative explained on X.

The mission aims to achieve "several objectives: to denounce the ongoing humanitarian blockade and genocide, the impunity enjoyed by the State of Israel, and to raise awareness among global and international opinion," added Rima Hassan, whose positions on the Middle East have repeatedly sparked controversy.

In early May, a ship on which the Freedom Flotilla Coalition hoped to pick up supporters—including Greta Thunberg —in Malta and then travel to Gaza was damaged. Activists said they suspected an Israeli drone attack.

"To ensure our security, but also the success of our mission, we need maximum citizen mobilization for this initiative," Rima Hassan concluded on X.

Amid escalating its campaign in the besieged Palestinian territory, Israel last week partially lifted the total blockade of aid to Gaza imposed since March 2. On Wednesday evening, thousands of starving Palestinians looted a World Food Programme (WFP) warehouse.

The White House announced Thursday that Israel had accepted US President Donald Trump's proposal for a ceasefire in Gaza, while talks with Hamas continue. In February, Rima Hassan was turned away from entering Israel after attempting to enter the country as part of a visit by a European Parliament delegation.