ST. LOUIS — A longtime ӣƵ resident was aboard a boat in the Mediterranean Sea Friday that organizers hope will be able to break through Israel’s years-long blockade of Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians.
Former restaurateur Bob Suberi, a Vietnam veteran and Affton resident, boarded the boat Handala on Sunday. The boat set sail from Gallipolli, Italy, with a mission to
As of Friday afternoon, the Handala from the Gaza strip. It carried a , made up of activists, a former United Nations staffer, a civil rights attorney, two members of the French Parliament, plus two journalists.
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“If we don’t get intercepted, we should be there on Sunday,” Suberi said in a phone interview frequently interrupted by a weak connection on Friday.
It is almost certain the Handala will be stopped. Israel has restricted the movement of goods into Gaza for decades and imposed a complete blockade in 2007.
Bob Suberi, 77, of ӣƵ, boarded the Handala boat on July 20, 2025 to bring aid to Palestinians in war-torn Gaza.
Aid ships, including in June, have been intercepted by Israeli naval forces. Most such incidents have ended uneventfully, with ships diverted and activists detained. A raid in 2010, however, descended into violence and ended with nine deaths.
Suberi, who is Jewish and calls himself “a recovering Zionist,” said he is hopeful the Handala will achieve its mission. The Handala sails as hunger among Gaza’s more-than-two million Palestinian residents reportedly is reaching a tipping point. The World Health Organization at least 21 children have died of malnutrition.
Israel leaders in the face of criticism from humanitarian groups calling for the blockade to end.
Day 4: Bob Suberi, on the 'Handala'. Bob reports on his sighting of a drone formation while on early morning pre-dawn watch.
“Chances are we’ll be intercepted,” Suberi said. “But there’s always the possibility, and we keep that forefront in our minds.”
Suberi, 77, grew up in California and moved to ӣƵ after attending the University of Michigan. His parents, both Jewish, were born in what now is recognized as Palestine and moved to the United States before Suberi was born in Los Angeles in 1948.
Suberi said the boat so far has endured suspected sabotage twice. A rope was wrapped around its propeller in Italy, the , Handala‘s sponsor, . And a delivery labeled as water instead contained sulfuric acid and burned the captain’s finger, Suberi said.
Meanwhile, in ӣƵ, Suberi’s wife has remained calm about her husband’s presence on the Handala.
The Handala boat set sail from Italy on July 20, 2025 to bring aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
“Everybody always asks me, ‘Aren’t you beside yourself?’” Barbara Suberi said. “I’ve always believed, and he has also, that if you’re pursuing what you want to pursue, then you’re going to be OK.”
The Suberis opened Bobby’s Creole in University City in the late 1970s. They eventually sold the business to sail around the world, Barbara Suberi said. When they came back, they opened Bobby’s restaurant in Maplewood, which closed in the early 2000s.
Bob Suberi said the spirit on board the Handala is “very high.” There’s a strong sense of solidarity, he said.
“Things have gotten so bad in the last almost-two years,” Suberi said. “I just feel like we have to do this.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Post-Dispatch photographers capture tens of thousands of images every year. See some of their best work that was either taken in June 2025 in this video. Edited by Jenna Jones.
