"The European Committee Against the Siege on Gaza, based in Brussels, stated that it is preparing to send a ship filled with European Parliamentarians to the Gaza Strip. Initially, Egypt denied the delegates access to Gaza through the Rafah border terminal.
Dr. Mohammad Hannoun, head of the Palestinian Coalition in Italy, a founding member of the European Committee Against the Siege, stated on Friday that preparations are be carried out to send the EU legislators to Gaza soon.
Hannoun added that legislators from different European counties, representing different parties, in addition to western reporters will be onboard the ship.
He also stated that the European legislators who were barred from entering Gaza via the Rafah terminal are persistent to sail to Gaza in order to participate in lifting the siege imposed by Israel on the impoverished Gaza Strip.
“Those legislators want to observe the situation in Gaza, the 1.5 million Palestinians who are surrounded there”, Hannoun added, “this trip comes while dozens of patients are dying in Gaza due to lack of medications and due to Israel’s refusal to allow them to leave Gaza for medical treatment abroad”.
Hannoun said that the legislators will be visiting health and educational facilities to observe the deadly effects of the siege on the residents of the Gaza Strip. He added that they will write reports and pressure their governments to act in order to lift the siege.
“This siege constitutes a war crime”, Hannoun said, “These visits are in solidarity with the Palestinian people are a direct rejection to this unjust siege that even bars the patients from receiving the needed medical treatment”.
On his side, Dr. Natheer Ahmad, head of the European parliamentarian delegates visiting Gaza, stated that the “unjust siege on Gaza requires everybody to perform their moral and human duty; it requires us to break this siege which continues for the third consecutive year”.
“Egypt did not allow us to enter Gaza via the Rafah terminal, but this will not stop us from visiting the area, Ahmad stated, “We will sail to Gaza, we are determined to break the siege”.
Recently the Egyptian Authorities barred 53 parliamentarians from entering the Gaza Strip; the parliamentarians are from the UK, Ireland, Sweden, Greece, Italy, Switzerland and Scotland in addition to parliamentarians from North Africa, Asia, Latin America, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Kuwait, Yemen, Jordan, Sudan, and Egypt."
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