Letter From Sicily: A Migrant-Rescue Ship Charts a Course for Gaza

SICILY—On the afternoon of Aug. 29, a little more than one day into its 36th mission in the Mediterranean, the search-and-rescue (SAR) vessel Life Support made an unexpected midsea U-turn back to Sicily. The boat, owned by the humanitarian nongovernmental organization Emergency, had already begun rerouting when head of mission Jonathan Nanì La Torre summoned crew members for a meeting. Standing in a room filled with old books and maritime knots, he informed the crew that they were being recalled to join the Global Sumud Flotilla expedition to Gaza, the latest attempt to break the siege Israel has imposed on the Gaza Strip and open a symbolic humanitarian aid corridor.

The sudden decision from the Italian NGO’s Milan headquarters came “like thunder from a clear sky,” said Nanì La Torre, an SAR rescuer and former head of mission. “I had goose bumps. It’ll forever be a historic moment for our crew.”

Nanì La Torre and his colleagues understand their new assignment as an extension of their work in the Mediterranean, where their boat is one of the two dozen vessels navigating search-and-rescue zones to save migrants left stranded at sea while attempting to reach Europe from North Africa. According to official data by the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration, more than 25,000 people have lost their lives over the past 10 years in what is considered the world’s most dangerous migrant route.

“Just as in Gaza, political inaction leaves a gap to be filled by civilians at sea,” said Maria Elena Delia, Italian spokesperson of the Global Sumud Flotilla, during a press conference.

“From aiding migrants at sea to aiding besieged Gazawis, the struggle for liberation in the Mediterranean is one, so our presence is not out of context in this mission,” said Nanì La Torre. “We have been witnessing a progressive political closure of the sea that should be a safe passage, as right-wing governments in Europe have created a humanitarian gap that aid workers and civilians must fill. This mission is about filling that gap of basic human rights.”

Since August of 2024, Emergency has been on the ground in Gaza providing medical assistance to victims of Israeli attacks, and its staff is well aware of the atrocities taking place on the ground. A few days before their decision to join the Sumud, the house next to their office in Khan Younis was bombed, killing a family of six that they had come to care for as neighbors and friends over the past two years. They will be joined in the Sumud by four coalitions that also bring prior experience in land and sea efforts to break Gaza blockades: Global Movement to Gaza, Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Maghreb Sumud Flotilla and Sumud Nusantara.

“For us it was a natural decision to join this solidarity movement,” Anabel Montes Mier, head of Emergency’s mission with the flotilla, told Truthdig. “We cannot accept what is happening in Gaza, we have to do something concrete to stop the siege. Logistically, it will be a completely different mission than the ones we are used to. Thematically, we don’t see any difference.”

Earlier this year, the dots connecting Israel’s war on Gaza and the European Union’s crackdown on migration were highlighted when Israeli drones deliberately targeted one Freedom Flotilla vessel, then spied on another, using technology that a recent investigation found to be the same used by the EU’s border patrol agency Frontex to surveil and curb migration in the Mediterranean. The overlap represents “an amalgamation of years of brutal repression aimed at migrants and refugees trying to cross the water and the repression of Palestinians,” the author reported.

Emergency’s participation reflects this amalgamation, the crew says. During the mission, their vessel will hold an observer role, stopping 150 nautical miles from Gaza’s coast. They will be the last ones to depart from Sicily and join the rest departing from Tunis. Their boat will bring up the rear of the group, together with the legal vessel, named in honor of the late Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh, to offer logistical and witnessing support in the event of any incidents. After two Israeli warplanes were spotted at the nearby American base of Sigonella, security concerns changed the initial plan of all the boats departing together on Sept. 4 from the port of Catania in Sicily, where the Life Support is currently docked.

The boats that left Barcelona on Sept. 1 and diverted their route to Tunis, however, ended up being attacked twice, on the night of Sept. 8 and again on Sept. 9, when Israeli drones struck the Family Boat, the flotilla’s head vessel, and another vessel within Tunisian territorial waters.

The event took place after Israel’s Ministry of Security threatened to treat flotilla activists as terrorists and confiscate their boats and repurpose them for Israel Defense Forces use. Since 2018, Italy’s far-right government has also threatened and criminalized the work of humanitarian workers on multiple occasions.

In January 2023, three months after the far-right government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came to power, Italy issued a decree ordering the impoundment of humanitarian boats that refused to abide by the Ministry of Interior’s choice of ports of safety. In the past, those ports were usually assigned based on geographical proximity; now it is based on the government’s determination of “availability,” which Davide Giacomini, Emergency’s advocacy officer, claims puts the boats in the furthest ports from operational areas. “This means extra days of navigation, further sufferings for the saved castaways and a lesser presence of SAR vessels in rescue areas,” he added.

This past August, a rescue ship named the Mediterranea was impounded and fined more than 10,000 euros after having refused Rome’s order to disembark in Genoa, adding an extra four days of navigation compared to the nearest port in Sicily, which the NGO used against government orders.

Emergency’s crew is conscious of the risks ahead but determined to contribute to the expedition. The day before his Sept. 10 departure from Catania’s port, where a military vessel from NATO’s Operation Sea Guardian had been docked menacingly next to the Life Support, Nanì La Torre had a spark in his eye. “I don’t know what to expect, but I feel ready,” he said. “I’m just grateful to have the opportunity to join the biggest civilian effort to break the siege on a starving and martyred population.”