Newfoundlanders Depart Sicily En Route to Gaza, Defying Israel’s Blockade
St. John’s, Canada and Otranto, Italy — Three women from Newfoundland and Labrador are onboard Freedom Flotilla ship the Conscience as it launches from Otranto, Italy, to challenge Israel’s illegal and immoral blockade of Gaza. These women carry forward Newfoundland and Labrador’s long tradition of sailors who face the world’s waters with courage and purpose. Israel previously attacked the Conscience on May 2, 2025. It has now been repaired and is sailing to Gaza.
Nikita Stapleton, a teacher from Portugal Cove–St. Philips; Sadie Mees, a graduate student at Memorial University; and Devoney Ellis, a local activist and MUN alumna, are among the international crew. The flotilla’s mission is to defy Israel’s illegal siege and demand that urgently needed aid reach Palestinians in Gaza.
“We are sailing to demand an end to Genocide and to show solidarity with Palestinians who continue to resist with courage,” said flotilla participant Sadie Mees. “The world cannot stay silent while Gaza is starved and bombed.”
On September 16, 2025 the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Since 2007, Israel’s blockade has trapped over two million people in Gaza. Today, as children starve and hospitals collapse under bombardment, the blockade has become a tool of genocide.
“Our participation is about collective liberation,” said Devoney Ellis. “Ending the blockade is not just a Palestinian struggle, it’s a global responsibility.”
The Freedom Flotilla is a global grassroots effort that since 2010 has sent boats carrying activists, parliamentarians, doctors, and humanitarian supplies. Though previous voyages have been intercepted—often with violence—they have succeeded in breaking through silence, forcing governments and media to confront the reality of Gaza’s imprisonment.
Palestine Action YYT is calling on the public to support the Newfoundlanders and their fellow sailors by following and amplifying updates online, and by demanding that Canadian leaders speak out against Israel’s blockade, take meaningful action to end the genocide and offer protection for the flotilla.
Updates will be shared on Instagram at @palestine_action_yyt. Sadie, Devoney, and Nikita will be available for joint interviews on October 1, 2025 at 9 a.m. NL time.
Palestine Action YYT is an independent, grassroots NL community group committed to the liberation of Palestine.
Background
Nikita, Devony and Sadie are sailing as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
While originally planning to sail aboard the Women’s Boat to Gaza, due to mechanical issues the three women from Newfoundland and Labrador are now sailing aboard the Conscience. The Conscience is carrying international journalists and medical professionals and is specifically highlighting the plight of journalists and medical staff in Gaza. Journalists and medical staff have been specifically and repeatedly targeted and killed by Israel throughout its campaign.
The FFC is a grassroots people-to-people solidarity movement composed of campaigns and initiatives from different parts of the world.The Freedom Flotilla Coalition came into being in 2010 and guides its work in accordance with explicit goals and plans of the people in Gaza. Their direct action missions support the dignity and humanity of Palestinians, working with civil society partners, rather than any party, faction or government. Their actions against the blockade are governed by the principles of non-violence and non-violent resistance.
Working together, the humanitarian mission of the FFC seeks::
To break Israel’s more than 17 year illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip, which has not only created an ongoing humanitarian crisis but has deprived Palestinians in Gaza their right to health, safety, and freedom of movement, among other fundamental human rights.
To educate people around the world about the blockade of Gaza, the unlivable conditions it enforces, and the fact that this colossal human suffering is not a natural catastrophe, but created by political and military choices.
To condemn and publicize the complicity of other governments and global actors in enabling the blockade. Notably, the US government has underwritten Israel’s violence against Palestinians for decades, funding Israel’s military at the rate of approximately $4 billion dollars every year and using most of its vetos in the UN Security Council in the last three decades to protect Israel from condemnation for its humanitarian crimes and violations of international law. Canada has also armed and supported Israel throughout its history and through the ongoing genocide.
To respond to the cry from Palestinians and Palestinian organizations in Gaza for solidarity for breaking the blockade and to show the people in Gaza that people and organizations around the world stand for and support their struggle for dignity and freedom.
The Freedom Flotilla is following the Samud Flotilla which launched earlier in September and has been repeatedly attacked by Israeli forces as it nears Gaza.