GAZA AID FLOTILLA SET TO SAIL FROM ISTANBUL
22/04/2024
A flotilla of four ships bound for the Gaza Strip is preparing to sail from Turkey any day now, on a mission aimed at breaching Israel’s naval blockade and highlighting the lack of aid reaching Palestinians in the besieged enclave.
The organizers, gathered under the banner of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, have participated in similar missions for years, an effort that gained worldwide attention in 2010 after an Israeli raid on a flotilla that included a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, killed 10 people and sparked a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel.
Huwaida Arraf a Palestinian American activist and lawyer who co-founded the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led organization using non-violent protests and international pressure to support Palestinians, is one of the key people participating in the mission.
She explained that their mission is completely legal and than any interception of the ship by Israeli authorities would go against international maritime law.
Two ships are designated for activists, while a third, currently docked in Turkey’s Iskenderun, will carry 5.5 tonnes of humanitarian aid.
Another ship is expected to join from Italy. Approximately 1,000 people will participate in the voyage, accompanied by 100 journalists with internet and satellite connections.
*KEEP AN EYE ON THIS AND SHARE THE NEWS*
@huwaidaarraf @gazafreedomflotilla @GazaFFlotilla @swilkinsonbc @5Pillarsuk
If you advocate for TRUTH & JUSTICE, SHARE to spread the knowledge.
#BreakTheSiege #gazaflotilla #gazafflotilla
#FreeGaza #PalestineSolidarity #GazaGenocide #UNRWA #EndGenocide #Palestine #ICJJustice #ceasefirenow #FreePalestine #Interfaith #StandWithUs #Truth #Palestine #Gaza #Humanrights #Israel #فلسطين #اسرائیل #غزة #airdropaidforgaza #middleeast #egypt #truth #facts
English Script:
Huwaida Arraf: My name is Huwaida Arraf. I’m a Palestinian American human rights attorney and one of the organizers of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. We see people being slaughtered on our screens. We see people being starved to death. And the governments of the world do nothing. The International Court of Justice has twice ordered that Israel do everything it can to ensure the immediate delivery of the necessary humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people and Israel is still obstructing that aid. The goal is to get to Gaza and deliver it urgently needed humanitarian aid, that we will be carrying. But of course, we also need to break the siege that Israel has on Gaza. The closure was a form of collective punishment, which is not only unlawful, it is a war crime and because that blockade, that closure and now a full on military siege directed towards targeting an entire civilian population, because this siege and what Israel is doing is illegal, any kind of interception of our ships would be illegal. Any kind of violence that Israel uses to do so would also be illegal. We are a civilian initiative bringing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people. We will be going from international waters into Gaza’s territorial waters. We are not entering Israeli waters and the people of Gaza want us there. They have a right to control their own lives, which Israel has been denying, and they certainly have a right to receive the international aid that can help keep them alive while Israel is trying to annihilate them. We hope that this kind of action mobilizes broader action, not just making it about aid. Yes, the Palestinian people desperately need aid right now, but we have to address the political realities that leave Palestinians in need of that aid. We have to stop what Israel is doing.
