Israeli occupation is fully responsible for the safety of all participants!
Bagnolet, 27 July 2025 – La Via Campesina, the international peasant movement representing over 200 million farmers, landless people, indigenous communities, and rural workers across more than 80 countries, expresses its strongest condemnation of the violent military assault on the Handala Boat in international waters. This boat was part of a peaceful solidarity mission organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, aimed at challenging the inhumane siege on Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid in the face of mass starvation.
Onboard the vessel were international human rights defenders, among them Hatem Aouina from Tunisia, a member of Million Rural Women and the Landless, and the regional representative of La Via Campesina in the Arab and North Africa Region (ArNa). His participation embodied the grassroots solidarity of peasant movements with the people of Palestine, who are currently enduring unprecedented levels of violence, siege, and hunger.
This assault is part of a broader, deliberate campaign to delegitimize humanitarian solidarity, to criminalize dissent, and to maintain an illegal and deadly blockade on more than 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. At the heart of this mission was a moral and political demand: to end the weaponization of food, a war tactic that has already resulted in famine conditions and the deaths of thousands from hunger.
The violent interception of the Handala Boat, which occurred while the vessel was sailing in international waters, constitutes a grave violation of international law. It breaches the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which affirms the right to freedom of navigation and prohibits the use of force against civilian ships on peaceful missions. Furthermore, it represents a direct assault on international humanitarian law, as enshrined in the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949), which requires the protection of civilians and prohibits collective punishment. The raid also violates the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (1998), which protects the right of civil society actors to organize peacefully in defense of human rights and dignity.
By targeting the Handala Boat, the Israeli authorities have sought to criminalize international solidarity itself, undermining the moral and political legitimacy of grassroots civil society action and silencing those who stand with the oppressed.
- The immediate and unconditional release of all participants aboard the Handala Boat, including our comrade Hatem Aouina, and guarantees for their physical and psychological safety.
- Urgent intervention by relevant UN Special Procedures, particularly the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories and on the situation of human rights defenders.
- Immediate diplomatic action by all State Parties to the Geneva Conventions to uphold international humanitarian law and to hold the occupying power accountable for this unlawful aggression.
- An independent and transparent international investigation into the interception and arrest of the activists, recognizing this act as a direct assault on a civilian humanitarian mission in international waters.
- An end to the illegal siege on Gaza and the criminalization of food as a weapon of war, including the full lifting of all restrictions on humanitarian aid and recognition of the right to food as a fundamental and non-derogable human right.
- Widespread solidarity and mobilization by global social movements, human rights organizations, and the media to expose this violation and resist all attempts to silence grassroots international solidarity and civil resistance.
This violent attack will not silence the voices of conscience, nor will it erase the moral clarity of those who choose to stand with the oppressed. La Via Campesina stands in unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people and with all those who risk their freedom and safety to defend justice, dignity, and food sovereignty.
We call on all members, allies, and international partners to denounce this aggression, demand accountability, and continue to mobilize in defense of people’s rights on land and sea.
La Via Campesina holds the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the safety and well-being of all individuals aboard the Handala Boat. Under international law and binding treaties, Israel bears direct legal and moral accountability for their lives and any harm that may befall them.
We reiterate our unwavering solidarity with the people of Palestine and with all those around the world who dare to confront oppression with courage, conscience, and collective action.
No blockade can stop the tide of solidarity. No violence can silence the right to dignity, land, and food.