Co-organiser of the mission, Zohar Chamberlain Regev said, “We are carrying food and medicine on the boat that will be distributed to Gazans upon arrival”.
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The militant group is also believed to be holding two Israeli citizens.
It “doesn’t only make Palestinians suffer, it corrupts the souls of Israelis as one can’t remain human if one treats our Palestinian brothers as if they weren’t our brothers”.
Of the 3.5 billion dollars pledged by the global community in 2014 to help rebuild Gaza in the wake of a devastating Israeli offensive, only 46 percent has so far been delivered, with donor aid for Gaza being 1.3 billion dollars behind the schedule.
Hamas has rejected proposals for a prisoner exchange deal in return for the bodies of IDF soldiers along with Israeli nationals held in Gaza, a representative from the Prime Minister’s Office said Tuesday.
The Gaza Strip, with a total area of 365 square kilometers, has a population of more than 1.76 million, including 1.24 million Palestinian refugees. The boats are part of a larger movement called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which sends “pro-Palestinian boats to Gaza” from all over the world, AFP reported.
None have yet managed to get through, and Israeli authorities have made several arrests.
Aboard are Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead MaGuire from Northern Ireland, Swedish European Parliament Member Malin Bjork, Marama Davidson, Green Party MP from New Zealand, American screenwriter and playwright, Naomi Wallace, and Cigdem Topcuoglu, a professional athlete from Turkey who sailed on the Mavi Marmara in 2010 and whose husband was among the 10 activists who were killed on that voyage by Israeli forces.
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The women travelling on board the two boats come from countries such as the United States, Norway, South Africa or Malaysia.
