ROME, Italy -- A boat organized by an international activist coalition opposed to Israel's blockade of Gaza was departing from Sicily on Sunday to deliver humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory, an Italian politician told AFP.

The boat from Freedom Flotilla Coalition was due to set sail from the port of Catania, carrying around a dozen people, including environmental activist Greta Thunberg, according to Marco Grimaldi, the deputy head of the Greens and Left Alliance, which has supported the mission.

"The ship carries the flag of public opinion, we are trying to make even more noise" about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, Grimaldi said.

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The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, launched in 2010, is a non-violent international movement supporting Palestinians, combining humanitarian aid with political protest against the blockade on Gaza.

The "Madleen" is a small sailboat carrying "fruit juices, milk, rice, tinned food and protein bars donated by hundreds of Catania residents", journalist Andrea Legni reported from aboard.

Franco-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan said Thursday she would also join the voyage.

Israel has come under increasing international criticism over the dire humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, where the United Nations warned in May that the entire population was at risk of famine.

The crisis began after Hamas launched a deadly attack on southern Israel in October 2023, triggering a full-scale war and an Israeli blockade that has severely restricted the flow of aid into Gaza.

The attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Saturday that at least 4,149 people have been killed in the territory since Israel resumed its offensive on March 18, taking the war's overall toll to 54,418, mostly civilians.

© Agence France-Presse