’Freedom Flotilla’: Activists Set Sail for Gaza to Break ’Israel’ Blockade

Local Editor

An international team of activists set sail for the Gaza Strip, in a bid to break "Israel's" sea blockade with four boats. It came five years after a similar attempt finished in bloodshed.

The so-called "Freedom Flotilla III" departed from various ports in Greece on Saturday. This was the third attempt to break the Palestinian blockade, which had lasted for nine years.

"Our strong determination is to get to our destination despite [Netanyahu's] threats to stop us," MK Basel Ghattas wrote on his Facebook page on Friday.

Further, Ghattas is a member of the team of around 70 people, including former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki and Spanish MEP Ana Maria Miranda Paza. Their journey is the result of "the joint work of campaigns from Spain, Sweden, Norway, Greece, Canada, Italy, the United States, and many other countries," spokesperson for the global Freedom Flotilla Coalition, Loukas Stamellos stated.

According to reports, aboard one of the ships were multi-national reporters who plan to arrive in Gaza on Monday.

Last week, the Zionist entity's Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called the flotilla "the work of provocateurs whose aim is to blacken "Israel's" face." She added that the ministry had been working "through diplomatic channels night and day" not to let the flotilla into the occupied Palestinian waters.

On Wednesday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he believed "a flotilla will not help to address the dire situation in Gaza," but once again urged "Israel" to "lift all closures..."

The Gaza blockade was introduced in 2006, following the capture of an "Israeli" soldier by Hamas, and became tighter a year later when the territory came under the control of the movement.

Before May 2010, a number of flotillas had managed to reach Gaza, but the first "Freedom Flotilla" ended in tragedy, when 10 Turkish activists were killed by the "Israeli" military. Since that incident, all attempts to reach the blockaded territory had failed, but had not ended in bloodshed.

In summer 2014, "Israel's" 50-day Operation Protective Edge killed 2,200 Palestinians, most of them civilians. The operation also left some 100,000 Gazans homeless.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team