A vessel carrying humanitarian relief is to depart for Gaza from Italy to deliver desperately needed aid, Al Jazeera reports.

The ship is scheduled to depart from the port of Catania, Sicily. The crew is made up of a dozen people, including Greta Thunberg, the Swedish environmental activist, said Marco Grimaldi, deputy leader of Italy’s left-wing Greens and Left Alliance party.

The trip was organised by Freedom Flotilla, a coalition of groups opposed to the blockade of humanitarian aid for Gaza that Israel imposed on March 2.