Alarm sounded over projected Israeli attacks on women’s boat to Gaza

The International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza called for an international intervention to guarantee a safe arrival of the Zaytouna boat to Gaza shores. The committee expressed fears of a projected Israeli attack on the boat, as was the case with the Mavi Marmara Flotilla some ten years ago. The committee called upon international activists to conduct media, political, and popular campaigns to exert pressure on Israel in order to guarantee a safe arrival for the Zaytouna solidarity ship and the women aboard.

The calls were launched after reports were released by Israeli news sites on the ship’s proximity to the Palestinian territorial waters. The committee said that the 13 women activists on board are set to arrive in the besieged coastal enclave on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning after traveling for nearly 2,000 miles, if the ship is not intercepted by Israeli naval forces en route to the shores of Gaza.

A so-called “Protect Women’s Boat to Gaza” hashtag was launched by activists on social media networks to call for a national protection for Zaytouna. Joining the hashtag, Palestinian MP Jamal al-Khudari wrote in a tweet: “Oh the world’s free people! We’re running out of time! Israel is preventing women from reaching blockaded Gaza and threatening to abduct them. Their protection is an ethical, humanitarian, and legal duty.” The campaign called on the world’s activists, diplomats, and journalists to mobilize mass participation in the anti-siege campaigns and activate calls for breaking the siege on Gaza, opening the border-crossings, and establishing a seaport.

“The real terrorism is the one perpetrated by the Israel occupation through the misappropriation of Palestinian lands, illegal settlement expansion, the construction of apartheid walls, Judaization of Occupied Jerusalem, aggressions on Gaza, and the blockade,” the committee further stated