Venezuela Calls for Release of Gaza Freedom Flotilla Activists, Condemns Israeli Blockade and Genocide

Caracas, June 11, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan government has strongly condemned Israel’s hijacking in international waters of the Madleen vessel and its 12-person crew, which was carrying humanitarian aid destined for Gaza.

“This act constitutes piracy and a blatant assault on international solidarity, which aimed to deliver food, medicines, and hope to the Palestinian people,” stated the Foreign Affairs Ministry in its communique released Monday.

Caracas also condemned Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian population in Gaza and the “complicit silence” of Western powers. The statement emphasized that preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza is a violation of international law and constitutes part of Israel’s “systematic extermination” of Palestinians.

According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, since the latest assault on Gaza began in October 2023, Israel has killed at least 54,880 Palestinians and wounded 126,227.

Since March 2, Israel has imposed a strict blockade on Gaza, severely restricting the distribution of food, water, and medicine. A report by the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) has warned that a severe hunger crisis is unfolding in Gaza in real time and nearly 71,000 children under the age of five are projected to suffer from acute malnutrition over the next eleven months. 

In the latest escalation, Israeli occupying military forces have shot and bombed Palestinians waiting in line for limited aid rations, following Israel’s suspension of aid through United Nations channels. The latest attack on Sunday near an improvised aid center left four people dead and 90 injured.

The continued assault on the people of Gaza comes after Israel unilaterally suspended a January ceasefire. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the time called for the international community to uphold respect for life and international law in order for the ceasefire to hold.

The Gaza-bound Madleen ship, organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, set sail from Catania, Italy, about a week ago in an effort to break Israel’s blockade. The 12-person crew, among them Swedish human rights activist Greta Thunberg, aimed to distribute badly needed aid, including rice, flour and baby formula, to the enclave’s 2.1 million people. 

On Monday, Israeli commandos intercepted the ship in international waters approximately 100 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza. The crew reported that drones sprayed the vessel with an unidentified white substance before Israeli soldiers boarded it. The 12 activists were detained, forced to throw their phones overboard, and subsequently taken to the port city of Ashdod. The aid supplies were seized as well. 

According to the Freedom Flotilla organization, eight of the twelve international volunteers aboard the Madleen appeared before an Israeli Detention Review Tribunal at the Ramleh detention center on Tuesday. The remaining four, including Thunberg, had already been deported. Each has been issued a 100-year entry ban to Israel.

“Israel is treating all 12 as if they ‘illegally entered’ the illegal settler state, despite abducting them from international waters,” the statement read. 

The remaining eight detainees have reported poor conditions, with Brazilian activist Thiago Ávila on a hunger strike.

The Freedom Flotilla has called for the immediate release of all activists and reaffirmed its commitment to continue its mission of breaking the Israeli blockade. In early May, another Gaza-bound aid vessel with 30 volunteers was attacked by Israel in international waters.

On Monday, a 100-vehicle convoy with thousands of volunteers from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt began the journey to deliver life-saving aid to Gaza by land and raise international awareness.

Venezuela has repeatedly defended Palestinians’ right to resist Israel’s occupation and genocidal actions. In 2009, former President Hugo Chávez severed diplomatic ties with Israel following another deadly assault on Gaza. 

Similarly, President Maduro has expressed unwavering support for Palestine’s liberation struggle, condemning the over 75-year-long US-backed settler colonization. Caracas has likewise endorsed the genocide case against Israel brought forward by South Africa at the International Court of Justice.

Edited by José Luis Granados Ceja in Mexico City, Mexico.