Gaza: On Sunday, Israeli naval forces seized a European aid ship approaching Gaza shores. Freedom Flotilla Coalition had organised a two-ship flotilla to break an 11-year Israeli blockade on the Palestinian territory. For 8 consecutive years, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has been launching a new campaign to challenge the Israeli siege, which has gutted the Gaza economy and deprived its population of many basic commodities.
According to the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, nearly two million Gazans were depending on international aid in order to survive while nearly half of the families in Gaza lacked access to secure food supplies, by the end of 2016.
Condemning Israel’s interception of the aid boat bound for the blockaded Gaza Strip, Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh on Monday described the Israeli seizure of the Gaza-bound boat as a “naval piracy”.