A snap shot of several ships which are part of the fleeting during their journey heading to Gaza. Photo courtesy of Global Sumud Flotilla.
"Upholding international law and principles of peace, the GSF asserts its right to deliver aid, protect volunteers, and challenge Israel’s siege through a transparent, nonviolent mission," stated the GSF.
Earlier on Monday, Israel vowed on Monday that it would not allow a Gaza-bound flotilla carrying aid to break its blockade of the Palestinian territory.
"If the flotilla participants' genuine wish is to deliver humanitarian aid rather than serve Hamas, Israel calls on the vessels to dock at the Ashkelon marina and unload the aid there, from where it will be transferred promptly in a coordinated manner to the Gaza Strip," the ministry said.
The Global Sumud Flotilla, also carrying prominent pro-Palestinian advocates from 44 countries, set sail for Gaza earlier this month from Tunisia after repeated delays.
The flotilla aims to break the two-year-old Israeli siege of Gaza and deliver aid to the strip, which has been ravaged by Tel Aviv's genocidal war and starvation policies against 2.3 million Palestinians in the strip
Before it departed from Tunisia, the GSF said that two of its boats were targeted by Israeli drone attacks.
Israel had blocked two earlier attempts by activists to reach Gaza by sea in June and July.
On Tuesday, 16 governments issued a rare joint statement warning Israel not to attack or detain the flotilla, in what organizers called an unprecedented show of diplomatic backing for the civil society mission.
The foreign ministers of Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mexico, Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, and Turkey said their citizens are aboard the flotilla and urged all parties to respect international law.
They said the GSF had informed them of its objective “of delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and raising awareness about the urgent humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people and the need to stop the war in Gaza.”
The Israeli announcement comes hours before several world leaders formally recognize a Palestinian state at a summit convened by France and Saudi Arabia ahead of the opening of the 80th United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
The historic event, The High-level International Conference for the Peaceful Settlement of the Question of Palestine and the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, comes amid growing regional and international recognition of the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state on the June 1967 borders.
The conference, which will be attended by dozens of world leaders, comes amid growing global outrage and condemnation of the Israeli genocidal war on the Gaza Strip and Tel Aviv’s increasing steps to annex the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
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