A group of volunteer doctors and international aid workers departed the southern Cypriot port of Larnaca Monday evening for besieged Gaza, with tons of desperately needed medical supplies for Palestinian people under Israeli air attacks.
They were sailing aboard the Dignity boat, which has successfully transported humanitarian aids in the past months to Gaza in defiance of Israeli blockade.
The International humanitarian and human rights workers are from Cyprus, Australia, Ireland, Britain, Tunisia and the United States, said the U.S.-based Free Gaza Movement.
Three Cypriot doctors plan to volunteer in local hospitals if they can reach the Gaza Strip.
"We will try to transport at least three tons of medical aid but it seems that the volume is too large to fit in the boat. In any case, we will take the most necessary items," said Eleni Theocharous, a surgeon and member of Cyprus parliament.
She said they know that their boat could be intercepted by the Israelis. If not, the Dignity can reach the Gaza strip at early hours of Tuesday,
Cynthia McKinney, a former U.S. Congresswoman was also aboard the boat.
"There is a time when silence is complicity and inaction is in acceptable," said a press release from the organizers.
They called the ongoing Israeli operation "a military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip," where more than 300 people, including women and children were killed by air strikes and many more seriously injured.
Source:Xinhua
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