By Laura Mor on June 12, 2025 from Havana
foto: Ina Fassbender
Gaza, Gaza! echoed on Tuesday at the Havana headquarters of the Cuban Association of the United Nations (ACNU), where representatives of Cuban civil society gathered in response to the call to condemn Israel’s new violation of international humanitarian law.
On June 9, Israeli naval forces, in an act of maritime piracy, boarded and seized the Madleen ship of the Freedom Flotilla in international waters, about 200 km from Gaza, while it was attempting to transport humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave with 12 activists on board, including the well-known Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan, who were detained and taken to Israel illegally.
Resumen editor Graciela Ramirez, foto: Victor Villalba Gutiérrez
“What danger did the 12 activists on the Madleen and its cargo pose? What was the fear of the ship?” asked Graciela Ramírez, coordinator of the International Committee for Peace, Justice, and Dignity and head of the Havana bureau of Resumen Latinoamericano, who denounced the impunity with which Zionism has operated during the 18 years of the blockade against the Palestinian people, “criminalized since Israel broke the ceasefire in March and banned the entry of humanitarian aid”: “an act against humanity”, as described by the International Democratic Federation of Women (FDIM).
“The ship was illegally boarded, its unarmed civilian crew was kidnapped, and its vital cargo—which included baby formula, food, and medical supplies—was confiscated,” the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said in a statement.
“Israel has once again trampled on all the rules of international law,” warned Norma Goicochea, President of the ACNU, asking, “What is being done to Palestine?”
The right to health and food are fundamental rights enshrined in the United Nations Charter, although, as denounced, neither is currently guaranteed in Gaza in the face of successive Israeli attacks on civilian targets.
Photo: Victor Villalba Gutiérrez
Those attending demanded an end to the Zionist occupation, full recognition of the Palestinian state, immediate entry of humanitarian aid, and the return of refugees. They also demanded the opposition and firm condemnation by the international community of Israel’s genocide, with the complicit approval of the United States, which is increasing the number of dead, wounded, and displaced every day, while intensifying the blockade of all aid in the midst of the deep humanitarian crisis that has been created.
Dismantling the media war and increasing the dissemination of what is really happening in the occupied Palestinian territory also accompanied this day, with the aim of continuing to highlight what the mainstream media is silencing.
For the president of the ACNU, this new meeting was a show of support from Cubans for the struggle of the Palestinian people, as well as their admiration for their will and capacity for resistance in the face of brutal Zionist aggression.
Source: Cuba en Resumen