Int'l activists, former UK cabinet member, on ship with a ton of hospital supplies, medical scanners.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFhamas police free gaza boat 224 88 ap(photo credit: AP)
A boat carrying eleven European lawmakers, including former British Cabinet member Clare Short, and international activists arrived in Gaza on Saturday.
The "blockade-busting," US-based Free Gaza activist group made its third trip to Gaza this year. The activists set off Friday from the port of Larnaca, in Cyprus, on a 20-meter (65-foot) yacht, the SS Dignity.
A Muslim member of Britain's House of Lords, Nazir Ahmad, said the lawmakers from Britain, Ireland, Italy and Switzerland are making the trip to witness the "humanitarian catastrophe" and express support for the territory's 1.5 million people.
Short said she hoped the trip would generate momentum to end the blockade.
"More and more people are going to say, 'this is how I'm going to show my objection to these breaches of the Geneva Convention and this illegal siege,"' Short said.
Free Gaza organizer Greta Berlin said the boat will deliver a ton of hospital supplies and three medical scanners.
Israel imposed a blockade of Gaza after Hamas violently seized control of the territory in June 2007, and later tightened the sanctions because of daily rocket fire from Gaza aimed at the western Negev. Egypt also has kept its border crossing with the territory closed.
Jpost.com staff contributed to this report.
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