2nd international aid flotilla heads for Gaza after Israel intercepts Sumud Flotilla

The 10-boat fleet headed out of the Italian and Spanish coastlines between September 25 and 27, Drop Site News, an American investigative outlet, reported on Friday.

The fleet, it said, has been organized by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), which has been organizing such Gaza-bound convoys since 2010, with the grassroots Thousand Madleens to Gaza (TMTG), named after a Gaza-bound aid ship that was targeted by the regime in June.

It carries nearly 70 people from more than 20 countries, including parliamentarians and elected officials from Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, France, and the United States.

On its way, the fleet was joined by the Conscience, a massive vessel that departed from Otranto, Italy on September 30 carrying 80 people, including international journalists, medics, and several Palestinian doctors, who volunteered in Gaza.

“For nearly two years, the illegal Israeli occupation has blocked international journalists from entering Gaza, creating one of the most dangerous press blackouts in modern history,” the FFC said. “This boat is our challenge to that silence.”

The Friday report came after the regime intercepted the last vessel that had joined the Global Sumud Flotilla, which had set sail from Barcelona late last month on a mission to challenge what human rights groups have condemned as one of the harshest and most inhumane blockades in the world.

The total blockade of Gaza has caused mass starvation of the people in Gaza killing dozens of people due to famine or Israeli gunfire at aid centers in Gaza.

Nearly three years of relentless strikes, together with starvation has claimed life of more than 66,000 people across the besieged Gaza Strip.