AhlulBayt News Agency - Organizers of the third Freedom Flotilla aid convoy said that four European ships left the Port of Crete Island in Greece for the besieged Gaza Strip.
"Last night, the First Freedom Flotilla ship set sail from the Greek island of Crete heading for the Gaza Strip and was followed by three other ships today. The fifth ship will set off from the same Greek island within the next few hours," spokesman for the European campaign to end the siege on Gaza Rami Abdo told a news conference on Friday evening.
"The boats of the third Freedom Flotilla, which left for the port of Gaza, are carrying a clear message and an invitation to the international community to necessarily lift the blockade on the Strip and establish a seaport and a water passage connecting it with the outside world," Abdo added.
The spokesman also stated that "the convoy's mission is to shed light on Israel's violation of the human rights of about 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, which has become for over eight years the world's largest open-air prison."
He refuted Israel's description of the flotilla as a group of illegal boats trying to enter territorial waters illegally.
"There are no illegal boats. What is illegal and illegitimate is the siege imposed on Gaza, which the European Union and the United Nations have been calling for ending it for years."
"These boats are heading for the Palestinian territorial waters off the shores of Gaza and not for the territories under Israel's control," he said.
source : abna
