ScheerPost Staff
The vessel Kate left Bristol carrying 12 activists, including several who say they were detained and abused during earlier attempts to reach Gaza.
Based on reporting by Mariam Elsayeh for Al Jazeera.
A boat carrying 12 people has departed Bristol, England, as part of the latest civilian effort to challenge Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip.
Supporters gathered Sunday at Hannover Quay to see off the vessel, named Kate, which is sailing with members of the Freedom Flotilla movement. Those aboard include activists who previously attempted to reach Gaza and were intercepted by Israeli forces.
The send-off drew several prominent supporters of Palestinian rights, including Dr. Swee Ang, founder of Medical Aid for Palestinians; Welsh nurse Leigh Evans; and University of Bristol professor David Miller, who recently prevailed in a legal case establishing that his anti-Zionist beliefs are protected under British equality law.
The vessel is captained by Irish sailor Fiacc O Brolchain, who was detained by Israeli forces during an earlier flotilla mission. O Brolchain said interrogators confiscated his hearing aids, leaving him unable to understand their questions.
According to international lawyer and Freedom Flotilla Coalition member Frank Romano, Israeli forces have intercepted and detained more than 75 solidarity vessels since October 2023. Romano has pursued legal efforts to recover the confiscated boats but said only two have been returned.
One of the seized vessels is Handala, which Romano owns. Named after the Palestinian refugee child created by cartoonist Naji al-Ali, the boat was intercepted in July 2025.
Israel has stopped every flotilla attempting to breach its blockade of Gaza since 2010, sometimes intercepting vessels in international waters. Participants say the repeated missions are intended both to deliver humanitarian assistance and to challenge a siege that has severely restricted the movement of people and essential supplies.
Activists intercepted during previous voyages have accused Israeli forces of physical and psychological abuse in detention. Israel has denied allegations of mistreatment.
Irish activist Colm Byrne, who is sailing aboard Kate, said Israeli forces intercepted him during an April mission while the vessel was still more than 1,000 kilometers, or about 620 miles, from Gaza.
Byrne said soldiers kicked and beat flotilla participants, forced them into painful positions and made them remain on their knees for four hours with their hands bound behind their backs. He said he suffered a shoulder injury during the detention.
After being transferred to prison, Byrne said detainees were ordered to walk with their heads lowered and were threatened with being slapped if they looked up.
Despite what he described as humiliating treatment, Byrne emphasized that the experience could not be compared with the far more severe abuses reported by Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The activists aboard Kate now face the same central obstacle that confronted every recent flotilla: reaching Gaza before Israeli forces intercept the vessel. Their departure nevertheless represents another attempt to directly confront the blockade and draw international attention to the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.