New Gaza flotilla set to sail, Israel to ban journos joining mission

One yacht from a planned ten-ship aid flotilla carrying activists hoping to run the Israeli blockade on Gaza has left Greece. Israel is determined to prevent this and other boats from reaching their intended destination.A French yacht carrying pro-Palestinian activists has left a Greek island in a bid to breach Israel's blockade of Gaza.

A day after securing a place in the second round football World Cup qualifiers, on home soil, Freedom Flotilla 2, the international humanitarian aid fleet, will try to sail toward the Gaza Strip today despite the Greek decision to ban it, said a report issued by the European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza on Sunday.

“The main issue is whether the Israelis will let the Flotilla come,” Elmadhoun told me last Monday in his office in the Foreign Ministry. Their reception in Gaza, he assured me, was not a question. “We are ready to receive those people. Don’t worry; within 24 hours’ notice of their departure from Athens, everything will be in place.”