Pro-Palestinian Turkish Group to Attempt to Deliver Aid Without Coordination

By Hamodia Staff

The IHH organization, Turkish group which tried to break the Gaza blockade with the Mavi Marmara ship in May 2010, is once again planning to send a flotilla of ships to Gaza without coordinating the shipment with Israel, Channel 12 reported.

The IHH, which has been declared a terrorist organization by Israel, plans to send four ships from Turkey, one laden with 5500 tons of humanitarian cargo and the other three carrying about one thousand people from Turkey and other nations, including journalists and other influencers.

Despite the state of war in Gaza, the organizers will not coordinate their travel or arrival with the IDF or with any Israeli officials.

The “Freedom Flotilla” has a scheduled departure date of April 14, but it is subject to change, and organizer stated. In regard to the possibility that the ships may be halted by the IDF, the organizer said “we’ll see.”

The flotilla is reminiscent of the May 2010 attempt of six ships to run the blockade and deliver humanitarian. Israel refused to allow the ship to dock in Gaza, offering to transfer the aid to Israel and deliver it to Gaza after inspecting it.

The activists refused, and Israel blocked five of the ships outside Israel’s territorial waters without incident. During the takeover of the sixth ship, Mabi Marmara, the people on the ship attacked the IDF soldiers, and they opened fire, killing nine and wounding twenty. Ten IDF soldiers were injured, two of them seriously.

A serious political crisis with Turkey and a major media storm ensued, and President Barack Obama mediated an agreement in 2013 in which Israel apologized to Turkey. Israel eventually agreed to pay compensation to the Marmara passengers.