Wednesday, 24 January 2024 For Immediate Release
MEDIA RELEASE:
For more than 17 years successive Israeli governments – supported by Western governments and Egypt – have enforced an illegal and inhumane blockade on Gaza.
Denying Palestinian people the basics of life led to 7 October 2023 where Palestinian people broke out of the Gaza ghetto. Since then the Israeli military has engaged in a genocide against Gaza, displacing almost all of the 2.3 million Palestinians in the Strip from their homes, killing more than 30,000 people and wounding more than 60,000.
On 22 December 2023 the UN Security Council passed Resolution 2720 which demands that ‘all parties to the conflict take all appropriate steps to ensure the safety and security of … all other personnel engaged in humanitarian relief activities consistent with international humanitarian law, without prejudice to their freedom of movement and access [and] stresses the need not to hinder these efforts, and recalls that humanitarian relief personnel must be respected and protected…’
Despite this UN Security Council Resolution the port of Gaza remains the only port on the Mediterranean Sea which is closed while a mere trickle of aid is allowed to enter Gaza, with thousands of humanitarian aid trucks waiting in al-Arish and Rafah for “permission” to enter Gaza.
With a few notable exceptions (such as South Africa, Indonesia, Chile and Mexico), governments and international bodies continue to fail the Palestinian people and so it is up to civil society to take action. While most of our governments fail, we continue to sail for the freedom of Palestinians.
Since launching in November 2023 the International Campaign to Save Gaza of which we are a part has been seeking appropriate boats to challenge the blockade and transport aid to Gaza. We have built relationships with organisations in Algeria, Lebanon, Libya and Türkiye and with your help the Save Gaza campaign plans to sail in the near future from Misrata in Libya and Sidon in Lebanon with humanitarian aid for Gaza. Starting in February 2023, we are also preparing nonviolent direct action plans to challenge directly the blockade.
Join us on the right side of history and support the Flotilla boats as we challenge the blockade and deliver aid to the Palestinians of Gaza.
For more details, see our full statement
More information about the FFC:
Web: freedomflotilla.org and Save Gaza
Facebook: FreedomFlotillaCoalition
X: gazafflotilla
Instagram: gazafreedomflotilla
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