Press Release

 

The National Commission for the Return and Siege Breaking Marches condemns the Israeli Navy's actions of piracy, detention and intercepting of Freedom Ship No. 2, which carried 8 peaceful participants of patients, wounded and students in order to shed the light on the daily suffering of citizens due to the siege which amounts a crime against humanity imposed on Gaza Strip for 12 years.
According to eyewitnesses of the participants of the second symbolic freedom ship,  at 3:40 pm on Tuesday, 10/7/2018, the Israeli naval forces intercepted the ship while it was located 12 miles away from the shores of Gaza Strip, and towed it to the port of Ashdod.

 

It is worth mentioning that Gaza strip is witnessing a catastrophic humanitarian deterioration due to the serious and long-term consequences of the crimes of occupation and the siege, which violates the rules of international humanitarian law and a crime against humanity, collective punishment prohibited under the rules of international human rights law, and a host of international conventions and treaties, including the Fourth Geneva Convention for the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949 and the Hague Regulations of 1907, which prohibit collective punishment and reprisals against civilians.

 

The siege and the three wars (2008-2012-2014) have had catastrophic humanitarian repercussions on the overall human rights situation, which have led to the deterioration of the economic and humanitarian conditions, raising the poverty rate to 80%, the unemployment rate to 53% and the absence of Food security, where 74% of the households in Gaza Strip live on foreign aid, in addition to the decline in the services provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in light of the crisis of reducing the US funds, as well as the collective punishment imposed by the Authority on the public servants and residents of Gaza Strip, which exacerbated the suffering of the population.

 

The Legal and International Advocacy Committee stresses that the attack on the "breaking the siege" ship  (or freedom ship) is a crime added to the record of the occupation's crimes, which is full of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Therefore, the Committee demands the following:

 

1. The Legal and International Advocacy Committee holds the occupation fully responsible for the safety of the peaceful participants on board the Freedom Ship and calls on the international community to condemn the attack on freedom ships and the arrest the peaceful participants, and calls to pressure the Israeli occupation state to release the captain of the first freedom ship, Mr. Suhail Al Amoudi..
2. The Committee calls upon the United Nations and its various bodies, the European Union, the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Convention to carry out their moral and legal responsibilities to force the Israeli occupation to end the siege on Gaza Strip and to open the gates of the largest prison in history, and the suffering of 2 million people.
3. The Committee calls upon the President and the Palestinian Government to immediately begin lifting the punitive and illegal measures imposed on Gaza Strip and to take the necessary measures to support the steadfastness of the citizens and provide a decent life for them, thus creating a climate for restoring national unity on the basis of partnership and the rule of law.
4. The Committee urges the International Solidarity Movement, the free world, and all Arab, Regional and International organizations, to act at all levels to ensure the continuity of the attempts to break the siege, expose and condemn the crimes of the occupation and support the struggle of the Palestinian people to obtain their just and legitimate rights.

 

 

Regards,