The 18 national campaigns of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla coalition (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, International Campaign to Break the Siege, Malaysia, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and United States) met in Dublin, Ireland, December 5-7, 2025, to plan for many more vessels to sail to challenge the illegal Israeli naval blockade and the genocide in Gaza.
Israel continues to break the cease-fire in Gaza and has escalated the vicious attacks by Israeli settlers on Palestinians and their land in the West Bank.
The inaction of governments to stop the genocide in Gaza, has compelled citizens to bring attention to the continuing genocide by sailing boats in an attempt to break the siege of Gaza.
Therefore, plans are under way for an escalation, for more boats in 2026 filled with unarmed civilians to challenge the illegal Israeli naval blockade of Gaza.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) was formed in 2010 after Israel assassinated nine Turkish citizens and one Turkish-American citizen on the Mavi Marmara ship. Over the past 15 years, the FFC has sailed dozens of boats to challenge Israel’s illegal naval blockade of Gaza.
In 2025, the FFC sailed the ships Madleen, Handala and Conscience. The Conscience was bombed by Israel off Malta on May 1, 2025, and was repaired to join the October 2025 mission.
The FFC’s efforts to break the naval blockade on Gaza expanded significantly in 2025, when the FFC was joined by two major new initiatives—the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) and the Thousand Madleens to Gaza (TMTG), resulting in a historic number of ships sailing in 2025 to challenge Israel’s genocide and unlawful siege on Gaza.
On the last day of the FFC Dublin meeting, representatives of GSF and TMTG joined the meeting to ensure that each organization was made aware of preliminary ideas for 2026 to work toward an even larger collective effort for 2026.
Details of these plans will be made public by each organization at the appropriate time.
As reported in the FFC press release for the meeting, this year’s meeting took place just three weeks after the passage of UN Security Council Resolution 2803, “which rubber-stamped the Trump plan for Gaza. Its adoption was a historic betrayal—not only of the Palestinian people, but of the very foundations the United Nations claims to defend. Resolution 2803 represents one of the most dangerous attempts in recent years to render international law irrelevant. It does not advance Palestinian rights in any meaningful way; instead, it installs a neo-colonial trusteeship led by the very powers that have armed, funded and politically shielded Israel’s atrocities for decades.”
“Security Council Resolution 2803 is a moral abdication by the world’s most powerful governments and the very institution that has failed Palestinians for over 80 years,” said FFC Steering Committee member Huwaida Arraf of US Boats to Gaza. “When states fail, people must take action. This is not a time to let up on our work, but rather to intensify our decolonial struggle, broaden our ranks, and turn collective outrage into unstoppable global momentum.”
The FFC press release continued: “Gaza needs us—needs all of us—now more than ever. Ending the siege is not only a political necessity; it is a profound moral duty. We will continue to act, organize, and sail in solidarity until Palestinians in Gaza can live with freedom, dignity, and justice.”
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About the Author
Ann Wright is a retired United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official.
She was one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq.
Since that time Colonel Wright has been a dedicated peace activist.
Ann can be reached at annw1946@gmail.com.
