Handala, a civilian aid boat with the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, has officially left Italy en route to Gaza. The mission comes just weeks after Israeli forces seized another the group’s last aid boat, the Madleen, and detained 12 civilians, including a Member of European Parliament and Greta Thunberg. The boat is named Handala after a Palestinian cartoon figure made by cartoonist Naji al-Ali in 1973. The figure is a Palestinian refugee child with their back turned that refuses to grow up until he can return home. The group dedicated the trip in honor of Palestinian children. “The children of Gaza, who make up over half the population, have been living under a brutal blockade and siege for their entire lives. Since October 2023, over 50,000 have been killed or injured, tens of thousands orphaned, and nearly a million forcibly displaced and homeless. All now face famine, disease, and trauma few of us can imagine,” wrote the Freedom Flotilla Coalition in a post on Instagram. #freedomflot...