Calls for international protection for Freedom Flotilla

The Popular Conference of Palestinians Abroad called on the international community to provide the necessary protection for the Freedom Flotilla that sailed from the Gaza Strip yesterday in an effort to break the siege.

In an interview with Quds Press, the spokesman of the Popular Conference of Palestinians Abroad, Ziad Elaloul, said: “The ship that sailed today from the Gaza Strip has a purely humanitarian purpose. It is carrying patients, students and people with special needs in order to provide them with medical treatment.”

He said: “The international community bears legal responsibility for the fact that the seas of Gaza are international seas and are not under the occupation’s control. This means that the practices of the occupation forces constitute a violation of international law.”

Hamas: We have a right to respond to Israel’s crimes

Elaloul called on the world to shoulder its human rights, humanitarian and moral responsibilities towards people who have been living under the siege for more than a decade, in addition to their suffering from the occupation’s crimes.

The occupation continues to commit its crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip through daily bombings.

A ship was launched from the port of Gaza yesterday in an effort to break the siege.  Setting off at 10:30am local time, the flotilla was carrying 25 patients, students and activists and heading towards Cyprus. According to Al Jazeera, by midday the boat had travelled nine nautical miles with four Israeli warships flanking it.

The vessel was later stopped by occupation forces who took it to the Israeli port of Ashdod to the north of besieged Gaza.