Humanitarian Ship Handala to Open Blockade of Gaza Arrives at Port of Hamburg

Berlin, MINA – The humanitarian ship Handala to open the Gaza blockade left the Dutch city of Rotterdam and arrived at the port of Hamburg, Germany on Sunday.

Zaher Birawi, Chair of the International Committee to Break the Siege on Gaza, who is a founding member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, said, “This stage of the Handala voyage is very important in building international solidarity for Palestine, and in directing the attention of the European and world community to blockaded Gaza,”

“The Israeli blockade is contrary to international law, and is a violation of the fundamental rights of Palestinians, especially their right to move to and from their homeland freely,” he said.

Birawi stressed that the Freedom Flotilla Coalition would evaluate the first phase of the campaign, before announcing then the next phase of its plan to challenge the blockade, which was to sail towards the eastern Mediterranean to reach Gaza.

He emphasized that the aim of the Handala cruise is to raise awareness of the suffering of the Palestinian people under the occupation and blockade, as well as increase the solidarity of the European people, and pressure on European governments to carry out their duties of ending the crimes of the blockade.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is a world solidarity movement, consisting of a number of solidarity organizations from more than 12 countries around the world, focusing on efforts to break the illegal sea blockade on Gaza, and expose the ugliness of Israeli crimes that have continued since 2006.

The coalition organized numerous campaigns to break the maritime blockade, most prominently the cruise ship Mavi Marmara and other international vessels, which were attacked by the Israeli navy in 2010, resulting in the deaths of 10 humanitarian activists. (T/RE1/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)