STRASBOURG (France) - PRO-PALESTINIAN groups plan to send another aid flotilla for Gaza next month, similar to the one involved in a deadly attack by Israeli commandos in May, an organiser said on Wednesday.
'We have six boats which are ready to leave Europe, we are hoping to head off next month, in the last half of July,' Mazen Kahel, spokesman for The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza, told reporters at the European parliament.
'On the day when the European parliament debates how Europe must respond to the Israeli attack it is vital that we listen to the voices of those on board the flotilla, as well as insisting that there is no alternative but to end the blockade,' said British EU deputy Richard Howitt.
Israel has faced mounting calls to lift the blockade following a deadly May 31 raid on an aid flotilla trying to run the Gaza blockade, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by Israeli troops.
It has argued the closures - imposed after an Israeli soldier was seized by Gaza militants in a deadly June 2006 raid and tightened a year later when Hamas took over - are needed to contain the Islamist movement.
However Israel's security cabinet was meeting on Wednesday to reportedly consider an international proposal for significantly easing the blockade. -- AFPhttp://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/World/Story/STIStory_541326.html
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