Aid workers, doctors and a former US Congresswoman sailed for battered Gaza with medical aid from Cyprus on Monday, defying Israeli air
attacks on the Palestinian territory for the third successive day.
The 66-foot yacht Dignity left Larnaca with about 3.6 tons of Cypriot-donated supplies and 16 passengers, including former US Representative Cynthia McKinney, Cypriot lawmaker Eleni Theocharous and activists from Britain, Australia, Ireland and Tunisia, organizers said.
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| Israel transferring humanitarian aid to Gaza / Hanan Greenberg and AP |
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Despite continued mortar fire on western Negev, Israel agrees to open two main cargo crossings into Gaza as part of policy of avoiding humanitarian crisis in Strip. Forty trucks begin delivering medicine, fuel, cooking gas and vital goods |
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"This is an active protest and a direct response to the killing going on at the moment," Renee Boyer, a spokeswoman for the organizers, said.
One passenger, American Cynthia McKinney, said she wanted to highlight what she said was a trail of devastation left by US weapons sold to Israel.
"There is a need for the people of the United States to understand that every piece of rubble that is on that strip of land is caused by US weapons," said McKinney, a former US Congresswoman and presidential candidate for the Green Party in the 2008 US presidential election.
Three doctors among the passengers planned to remain in Gaza.
"We are trying to materialize a humanitarian and medical mission and to send a message to the people of Gaza that they are not alone," said Eleni Theocharous, a doctor and member of the Cyprus parliament.
Israel has not stopped activists from the Free Gaza Movement from sailing to the coastal territory in the past, though the territory was declared a closed military zone on Monday. The Israeli navy patrols Gazan coastal waters.
Aid workers said they were aware they could be intercepted. "That doesn't stop or deter us," McKinney said.
The Free Gaza group has made five deliveries of aid by boat to Gaza since August, defying a blockade imposed by Israel when Hamas won control of the territory in June 2007.
AP and Reuters contributed to this report
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