A ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza stops in Brest
The NGO ship Ship to Gaza, carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, stopped in Brest on Wednesday on its journey to the Palestinian enclave. “We want to challenge, break the illegal blockade of Gaza. We have other boats that will join us in the Mediterranean, and together, as a flotilla, we will head towards Gaza.”explained Fellipe Lopes, media coordinator of the NGO.
Baptized Handalanamed after an emblematic character of Palestine, this former fishing boat of around twenty meters, which flies the Norwegian flag, must join three other ships loaded with humanitarian aid, stuck in Turkey since April, after having their flag withdrawn by Guinea-Bissau.
The organizers of this “freedom flotilla” for Gaza denounced the “Israeli pressure” leading to this decision. THE Handala is transporting clothing, medicine and food, as well as a dozen crew members of seven nationalities, according to the same source. His arrival in Brest was greeted by a handful of activists from the CGT and the France Palestine Association waving Palestinian flags.
The ship, which left Norway at the beginning of May, stopped in Malmö (Sweden) during the Eurovision contest, before stopping in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Ireland. After a stop in La Rochelle (Charente-Maritime), the ship must still stop in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Malta, before heading to Gaza in August.