DaysofPal- The head of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, Yousef Ajjisa, said that the “Freedom and Sumud Flotilla” now setting sail for the Gaza Strip is the largest in the history of efforts to challenge the blockade, with dozens of vessels due to converge in the eastern Mediterranean later this month.
In an interview with Palestine Online, Ajjisa, who is also a member of the Algerian parliament, said more than 70 ships and around 1,000 participants are expected to take part in the flotilla, which aims to establish a maritime corridor to support the Gaza Strip and deliver aid.
Ajjisa said the ships are scheduled to meet in international waters at the end of the month and then head together toward Gaza’s coast.
He noted that the initiative brings together organizations that had previously operated separately in past flotillas, which have now united in a single international coordinating body based in Istanbul, Turkey and Malaysia under the name “Freedom and Sumud Flotilla.”
He explained that the first ships departed from the French port of Marseille on 4 April, followed by additional vessels from Barcelona on 11 April, with further departures planned from Italy, Greece and Turkey.
All, he said, are due to rendezvous at sea before sailing toward Gaza.
According to Ajjisa, the flotilla’s central goal is to break an “unjust, immoral, inhumane and illegal” blockade imposed on Gaza, especially in the aftermath of a war of extermination that has devastated life in the territory and created a humanitarian catastrophe.
Ajjisa stressed that the flotilla is entirely peaceful and that all its activities are legal, popular, diplomatic, media-related and humanitarian.
He said participants have received training in nonviolent resistance and that volunteers “have left behind their lives and comforts to board these ships,” which he described as technically monitored and equipped with security and safety measures.
“We want to establish a permanent maritime corridor to continue supporting Gaza and bringing in aid,” he said, arguing that Israeli occupation has shut down all land crossings and left only the “wide sea route” as an option to deliver assistance and try to break the land, sea and air blockade.
Ajjisa accused Israeli occupation of trying to stop the flotilla even before it sets sail, noting it is pressuring governments not to cooperate with the initiative and attempting to damage vessels.
He alleged that during a previous flotilla Israeli occupation seized dozens of ships, used weapons and “chemical materials” to disable vessels and communications, and carried out attacks at sea and in the Tunisian port using stun munitions.
He said organizers have deliberately increased the size of the current flotilla in response.
“If the number of ships is double or more than last time, we will have a better chance that at least some vessels will reach Gaza,” he said, acknowledging that the operation is risky and that Israeli is “preparing to confront this flotilla and these ships.”
He said the flotilla is transporting medical supplies, baby formula and humanitarian aid, as well as professionals and skilled workers, including doctors, engineers, tradespeople and other specialists, who plan to help with rubble removal, reconstruction and agriculture in Gaza.
He added that thousands of people turned out in Marseille and Barcelona to see the ships off, reflecting broad popular support in both Arab and Western societies.
Participants, he said, come from across the world, including the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and various European countries.
Ajjisa noted that official governmental backing remains limited so far, aside from the participation of individual parliamentarians, whom he described as representing popular rather than formal state positions.
He attributed this to intensive Israeli pressure on Arab, European and other governments but insisted that living consciences and the free world must continue to support the flotilla, work to end the occupation, lift the blockade and ensure the entry of aid to Gaza.
He called for strong media, political, parliamentary and diplomatic accompaniment of the flotilla so that it becomes a major international diplomatic event.
The aim, he said, is to draw global attention to crimes, ethnic cleansing and the ongoing siege in Gaza and to underline that Gaza’s shoreline is part of the State of Palestine and does not belong to Israeli occupation.
On the legal front, Ajjisa said teams of lawyers and human rights advocates linked to the Freedom Flotilla, along with the Adalah legal center active in the occupied territories, are already working to challenge and document any violations or acts of piracy they say may be carried out against the flotilla.
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