As hundreds of International pro-Palestine activists gear up to set sail to Gaza, the Gaza harbor is undergoing some maintenance work to ensure its safety to receive a flotilla of some 15 medium-sized boats and cargo ships, carrying around 1000 activists including parliamentarians and human rights activists from more than 30 countries.
The flotilla is to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid to the Palestinians of Gaza next month. Currently a monument is being built at the port in memory of the peace activists who lost their lives on May 31at last year.
Organizers of the latest humanitarian mission were expected to reach Gaza on the 31st of May to mark the 1st anniversary of the Israeli naval attack on the freedom flotilla which left 9 activists dead and many others wounded. However, the original plan was abandoned due to repeated threats by Israel. The flotilla will now set sail in late June. The vessels will depart from various European ports.
Although Israel withdrew its settlers from Gaza in 2005, it has continued to control the inhabitants' lives by imposing a long-running blockade. Since 2007, it has prevented most human traffic in and out of the densely populated Strip, while restricting imports and banning almost all exports.
The Freedom flotilla is a human rights coalition, of which the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza is a founding member. The Freedom Flotilla has sailed since August 2008 to break Israel's illegal stranglehold, successfully arriving in Gaza five times, however, the past four voyages have been violently intercepted.
