Two ships set sail from Greece to join Gaza aid flotilla
SYROS: Two ships set sail Sunday evening from the Greek island of Syros to join the Global Sumud Flotilla, an international mission aiming to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza and deliver humanitarian aid, AFP journalists saw.
Chanting “Free Palestine,” around 500 people gathered at the port of Ermopoulis to see off the two Greece-flagged boats, the Oxygen and Ilektra, carrying goods for famine-hit Gaza along with five and eight people on board respectively.
“This is the way to show Israel that it shouldn’t have the right to impose starvation,” Kostas Fourikos, a 39-year-old crew member told AFP. “And of course to send the message of solidarity to the Palestinians, who suffer so much.”
Another crew member, Angeliki Savvantoglou, said the flotilla aimed to “put pressure on our own governments to also stop collaborating with Israel and stop this genocide.
“Eventually, we want this genocide to stop,” the 35-year-old added.
The two vessels are set to join the rest of the fleet, which hopes to help relieve the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel’s war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas grinds on.
In August, as a result of the conflict, the United Nations officially declared famine in and around Gaza City, home to around a million people.
Israel denies the existence of famine in the coastal territory.
