World Bulletin / News Desk


The Free Gaza movement said they would set sail on 25 June to bring "15 tons of cement" to Gaza, destroyed by Israel's offensive last year.

A group of 38 United Nations and non-governmental organizations on Thursday condemned Israel's siege.

They said "the consequences of Israel's recent military operation remain widespread as early recovery materials have been prevented from entering Gaza. Thousands of people are living with holes in their walls, broken windows and no running water."

"We are putting Israel on notice that they cannot continue to starve a population into submission and deny them basic building materials to rebuild," said a statement from the Free Gaza movement.

Former US president Jimmy Carter also on Tuesday decried the its continuing trade siege, which he said forbids even children's toys.

Carter said he had seen for himself there had been almost no reconstruction in Gaza over the past five months.

"Never before in history has a large community like this been savaged by bombs and missiles and then been deprived of the means to repair itself," he said.

Palestinian news agency quoted the movement as saying in a statent, "And we put Israel on notice that they cannot continue to make money on their occupation of Gaza by forcing supplies to come through their portals and charging for them."

Israel killed 1434 Palestinians, a third of them children in the 22-day military aggression in Decemcer 2008 on Gaza and wounded 5,300 Palestinians, and Gaza infrastructure suffered massive damage.

"First year anniversary of ship convoy"

Human rights groups, both international and Israeli, often slammed Israel's siege of Gaza, branding it "collective punishment."

According to organizers the June voyage will be the first of three summer deliveries, the second and third of which the group hopes to sail a cargo ship into the area carrying large loads of materials for reconstruction.

The voyages are set for July and August, the last to mark the first year anniversary of the first successful Gaza ship convoy.

Gaza is still considered under Israeli occupation as Israel controls air, sea and land access to the Strip. Rafah crossing with Egypt, Gaza's sole border crossing that
bypasses Israel, has been largely closed since June 2006.

1.5 million Gazans live under heavy Israel siege and Egypt still insists on not to opening the only Gaza border crossing in a move condemned by Muslims around the world in protests, leaving Gazans desperate to digging tunnels underground and risking their lives since 2007.

The war also left tens of thousands of houses destroyed, while their residents remained homeless.

Israel responded to Hamas's win in the elections with sanctions, and almost completely blockaded the impoverished coastal strip after Hamas seized power in 2007, although a 'lighter' siege had already existed before.

Crew on the first voyage, according to organizers, include Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire, former US Congressional Representative Cynthia McKinney, 84-year-old Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein and representatives from 17 countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, and Qatar.

"The oldest passenger is 84 and the youngest is 23," a statement from the group said.