Amnesty International on Friday urged Israeli authorities to allow the Madleen, the lead vessel of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, to proceed safely and without interference toward the besieged Gaza

An aid ship with 12 activists on board, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, is nearing Gaza, having reached the Egyptian coast.

The almost 20 months of war has torn Gaza apart, often displacing residents multiple times and killing more than 54,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry. A U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreed in January collapsed in March as Israel enforced a blockade on all humanitarian aid into the strip.