Third Wave Of Flotilla Continues Sailing To Break Isreali Blockage

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 (Bernama) -- The third wave of the humanitarian flotilla under the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and Thousand Madleens to Gaza (TMTG) is currently heading to Gaza in an effort to break the illegal Israeli blockade, said one of the activists, Prof Dr Mohd Afandi Salleh.

Mohd Afandi who is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Law and International Relations of Sultan Zainal Abidin University (UniSZA), is currently on the ship Conscience which departed from Porto Otranto, Italy carrying activists and crew, including medical experts and international journalists from more than 20 countries.

"The mission of this ship as usual is to break through the siege created by Israel. In addition, we are also bringing medicine, baby food and this flotilla involves more than 20 doctors and more than 20 international journalists to provide extensive coverage of this mission," he said during a live stream with Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Religious Affairs) Dr Zulkifli Hasan via the TikTok application today.

He said the Malaysian delegation consisted of nine activists, including four medical doctors and a journalist, making Malaysia one of the largest participants in the group after Turkiye in this flotilla mission.

Previously, three FFC ships were prevented by the Zionist regime from sailing to Gaza, including the Conscience ship which was bombed using drones near the waters of Malta in May, while the Madleen and Handala ships were intercepted by regime forces in June and July respectively.

Mohd Afandi, who was detained by the Israeli army in 2018, stressed that the regime's actions in attacking or detaining flotilla ships in international waters clearly violated international law.

"Israel will actually violate any law, including international law. In my experience in 2018, we were detained 47 nautical miles from the Gaza coast even though we were in international waters," he said.

The third wave of the flotilla to Gaza this time, consisting of 10 boats, departed on September 27 from Italy under the FFC and TMTG, while the ship Conscience was released in Porto Otranto yesterday.

This FFC operation is a follow-up flotilla operation after the Global Sumud Flotilla which brought food, medicine and messages of peace, involving more than 1,000 volunteers who boarded nearly 70 boats with one goal, which is to break the siege on Gaza.

--BERNAMA