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Two boats heading to Gaza in latest international aid campaign

02 November 2011 20:59 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Two ships in international waters in the Mediterranean are heading to the Gaza Strip, in the latest efforts by rights groups to bring aid to the coastal enclave and break the maritime blockade imposed by Israel, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"Our efforts in Greece only fueled our determination to challenge the imprisonment of people of Gaza," Free Gaza Movement, one of the main sponsors for the campaign, said Wednesday in a statement, referring to the last foiled flotilla which was banned by Greek authorities from setting sail to Gaza in July.

The civilian boats, Canadian Tahrir and Irish Saoirse, carry 27 people from the United States, Canada, Australia, among others, and a symbolic cargo of some 30,000-U.S. dollar worth of medicines, according to a press release from the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinians-led organization against Israel’s occupation.

A Palestinian activist from the Israeli city of Haifa has also joined the mission, dubbed "Freedom Waves to Gaza."

The first Freedom Flotilla attracted worldwide attention on May 31, 2010 when Israeli navy commandos, trying to board and stop the convoy, killed nine activists and wounded dozens.

Israel argues that it has the rights to stop any unchecked cargo from reaching Gaza, so as to prevent the smuggling of weapons and munitions to the Islamic Hamas movement and other militant groups operating in the coastal strip.