The Gaza Strip will set off a flotilla of ships on Tuesday in a bid to break the 12-year-long Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory.
Salah Abdul-Ati, a member of a Palestinian committee tasked with breaking the siege, told a press conference in the Gaza City on Sunday:
“This trip will carry the hopes and dreams of the Palestinian people for freedom.”
He said the first ship will set sail on Tuesday morning, with a number of injured Gazans and patients aboard.
A Freedom Flotilla is sailing to Gaza this summer with several boats from other countries including Copenhagen. https://t.co/qtWsd0iyPX pic.twitter.com/a8maNeqz0F
— The IMEU (@theIMEU) May 27, 2018
He, however, did not specify the first stop of the ship.
According to Abdul-Ati, Israeli forces twice attacked boats and ships seeking to break the Israeli siege on Gaza in the past two weeks.
He called on the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority to lift “penalties on the Gaza people to boost their steadfastness and ease the humanitarian crisis caused by the blockade”.
Boats carrying Gaza patients attempt to break Israel's blockade https://t.co/E95x1kEfyP pic.twitter.com/cpK1lcYZRo
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) May 27, 2018
He also appealed to the international community to pressure Israel to lift the blockade on the Gaza Strip and on international NGOs to provide protection to anti-siege ships.
Tuesday’s Gaza flotilla will coincide with the 8th anniversary of an Israeli attack on the Turkish “Mavi Marmara” flotilla, in which nine Turkish activists were killed when the Israeli navy attacked the vessel in international waters. A tenth activist died nearly four years later, succumbing to injuries sustained during the raid.
#BreakingNews: #Gaza boats will attempt to break #Israel Navy siege on Tuesday, this effort comes to meet the attempt of #FreedomeBoat which willing to do the same from #Europe within 2 months voyage. pic.twitter.com/79pQmN459I
— Shehab News (@ShehabAgencyEn) May 27, 2018
The incident served to cause a political crisis between Turkey and Israel, which ended when the latter agreed to Turkish conditions to normalize ties, including offering an apology and compensating families of the victims.
Home to nearly two million Palestinians, the Gaza Strip has been reeling under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2006 when Palestinian resistance group Hamas was voted to power in a parliamentary election.
(MEMO, PC, Social Media)
Israel wants Gaza to just barely survive and apparently the rest of the world doesn’t care. These people are risking their lives with the Jewish killers and their fancy weapons and absence of conscience.
I am from Vancouver,Canada and I wanted to say that I am in contact with the Canadian Boat to Gaza.The Canadian Boat to Gaza is in Europe at the present time.In about a month from now they will be on their way to Gaza.In Canada they have lots of support and that support will continue.We support the Heroic People of Gaza fighting against Israeli Occupation and Israeli Apartheid.We will continue to support the People of Gaza until the criminal Israeli Blockade of Gaza is lifted.