Activists seek new way to deliver Gaza aid

THE THREE tonnes of medical aid collected by the Volunteer Doctors of Cyprus and intended for the battered people of Gaza arrived in Limassol port yesterday.

The Volunteer Doctors had attempted to send urgent medical supplies and doctors to the beleaguered Gaza Strip in a boat last month but were blocked by the Israeli navy which rammed the boat several times in international waters.

The SS Dignity suffered extensive structural damage and had to limp to the nearest Lebanese port where it remained for repairs until it could be brought back to Cyprus last week.

The three tonnes of aid, meanwhile, was put in storage until it was returned yesterday. President of the Volunteer Doctors, Georgios Georgiou, said he was trying to collect a group of doctors together who would take the much-needed humanitarian aid and food to Gaza, following the recent ceasefire.

Georgiou said the aid would be delivered using the services of a shipping company and not the Free Gaza Movement which organised the last two trips to Gaza, both of which failed as a result of a blockade imposed by the Israeli authorities.

However, it was not clear which port the commercial ship to be used would sail to.

“The only thing that’s certain is that we will try to get there as soon as possible. Apart from our contacts with the people of Gaza, the needs are obvious and manifest after such a war and include antibiotics, painkillers, surgeons, and we are moving in that direction,” he said.

Georgiou said more than one mission to Gaza was planned, adding his gratitude to all the companies, commercial and pharmaceutical, that contributed to the collection of aid, and to those who continue to so.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.