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Survivor of aid flotilla heads to Gaza

 

A British activist who participated in an effort to reach Gaza by sea left London Saturday with a convoy of vans intending to bring aid overland.

The group plans to rendezvous in Syria with convoys from Qatar and Morocco, CNN reported. The British group calls itself Viva Palestina Lifeline 5.

"Our mission last time was to take aid in and to highlight the siege," Kevin Ovenden told CNN. "That's our mission this time."

Ovenden was on board one of the boats in an aid flotilla that was intercepted by the Israeli military as it approached Gaza in May. Nine Turkish nationals died.

The incident has soured the relationship between Israel and Turkey, for decades one of its best friends in the region. Israel says soldiers fired in self-defense after being attacked, but activists on board the convoy say the killings were unprovoked.

"I witnessed the man one meter in front of me being shot in the leg, a man 50 centimeters to the back right of me being shot through the abdomen," Ovenden said of the experience. "Neither of them had anything in their hands. There was no Israeli commandos within the immediate proximity."

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flotilla

viva palestina

gaza