Handala Ship Ends First Stage of Sailing in Mission to End Gaza Blockade

Brussels, MINA – The Handala from the Freedom Fleet coalition completed the first phase of its voyage to break the siege on the Gaza Strip, while returning to the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

The International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza in a press statement on Wednesday as quoted from PIC, the Handala ship has been sailing for the last two months visiting 12 ports in a number of European countries carrying the Palestinian flag.

The cruise action is a message to the whole world that the time has come to end the evil blockade that has been imposed unjustly on Gaza for about 16 years.

He added that during their stops at various ports, they carried out awareness campaigns about the blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip and its impact on Palestinians in general, and focused on the disastrous impact of the blockade on Gaza’s children.

“The passage of the ship through European ports was accompanied by a media campaign and political pressure to end the crimes of the blockade,” the statement added.

Zaher Birawi, head of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza and founding member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, said the Freedom Flotilla Coalition will evaluate the activity and start preparing for the next phase, which is expected to end the cruise in the Gaza Strip.

Birawi emphasized that the Handala ship program stage is very important to build international solidarity with Palestine and to direct the attention of the European community and the world to Gaza which is under siege for the suffering of the Palestinian people as a result of this, namely the unjust siege that has lasted for more than 16 years, which violates international law.

“This is a violation of the basic rights of Palestinians, especially their right to move to and from their homeland freely,” he stressed.

A new campaign to break the maritime blockade on Gaza, represented by the ship Handala, was launched last April in the city of Bergen, Norway in response to calls from civil society organizations in the Gaza Strip, which demand freedom, from the world and international activists as well as solidarity not to remain silent on blockade crime and make necessary efforts to break it.

It should be noted that the Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a popular solidarity movement, consisting of a number of solidarity organizations from more than 12 countries around the world, and its efforts are focused on breaking the illegal sea blockade on Gaza, and exposing the ugliness of Israeli crimes that have been continued since 2006.

The coalition organized many campaigns to break the maritime blockade, most notably the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara and its five escort ships which were attacked by the Israeli occupation navy in 2010. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)