Jordan Times
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Aid convoy to enter Gaza Strip today - organisers
AMMAN (JT) - The Viva Palestina international aid convoy is expected to arrive in Gaza today, according to a statement from the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which co-organised the convoy, on Monday.
The statement, which was e-mailed to The Jordan Times, said 198 convoy vehicles, including ambulances and vans, were loaded onto a ferry in the Syrian port of Latakia on Saturday, and had docked and cleared customs at the Egyptian port of El Arish.
Convoy members were expected to fly to El Arish from Latakia yesterday evening to pick up the vehicles and drive to Egypt's Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip. The convoy, the statement said, is the third Viva Palestina campaign to attempt to break Israel's three-year-old siege of the coastal enclave, which has been sealed off to all but limited humanitarian aid since the Hamas movement took control of the strip in 2007.
The PSC added that the aid to be delivered includes specialised medical equipment, and that the convoy will leave all its vehicles in Gaza.
Convoy organiser Kevin Ovenden said in the statement: "Despite all the difficulties, by land, by sea and by air, we are within 24 hours of breaking the siege of Gaza.
"We now have every right to expect unhindered and safe passage into Gaza, but we call on all our friends internationally to stand ready to raise their voices if we face further unjustified delay."
Delegation member Ali Abul Sukkar told The Jordan Times last week that Egypt had set a January 3 deadline for the convoy to arrive in Gaza before the border crossing would be closed.
The convoy and its over 400 delegates from around the world arrived in Jordan from Syria on December 22 and attempted to cross into Egypt by sea from the port of Aqaba, but was delayed when Egyptian authorities refused to allow them entry into Egypt through the port of Nuweibeh.
Egypt insists it only receives aid to Gaza through El Arish.
The convoy had hoped to reach Gaza by December 27, the first anniversary of the start of Israel's military offensive on the strip, which killed around 1,400 Palestinians, but remained stranded in Aqaba as the deadline passed.