Swiss participate in flotilla against sea blockade in Gaza
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Swiss citizens are also taking part in the flotilla that intends to break the sea blockade in Gaza. The Waves of Freedom Association (WOFA) plans to leave with five boats loaded with baby milk powder and water filters.
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‘What is happening is inhuman. We want to break the blockade, the aid is there,” Hicham El Ghaoui, president of WOFA, an association founded in 2025 in Verbier, Switzerland, told the media in Geneva today. The doctor, who has participated in several missions to Gaza, explains that trucks full of food are parked a few kilometres from the Palestinian enclave, where people are starving.
With more than 160 nationalities represented, the Global Sumud Flotilla is the largest civil society action ever organised, emphasised Shady Ammane, delegate for Switzerland. Dozens of boats are participating in this peaceful and non-violent initiative. The participants will mainly leave from Barcelona on August 31 and from Tunis on September 4.
To avoid sabotage, boats carrying humanitarian and medical aid will instead depart from other, unspecified Mediterranean ports. WOFA, which christened its first two sailing boats Heidi and Wilhelm Tell, is seeking funds to purchase two more boats and hire skippers, doctors and journalists to accompany the participants.
Greta effect
In Switzerland, more than 600 people have registered and 267 of them have handed in their identity cards, Ammane pointed out. Worldwide, two-thirds of the 18,000 people registered want to board the boats, said Samuel Crettenand, international delegate, for whom “Gaza is the cemetery of human rights”.
The number of volunteers has been increasing since the participation of Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was announced on Sunday. All will undergo the same recruitment and training process to ensure that they do not panic if the boats are intercepted by specialised Israeli commandos. Psychologists and lawyers will provide remote assistance to the participants.
At the political level, a number of parliamentarians have been contacted. “Switzerland has been conspicuous by its silence for almost two years. In the face of genocide, being neutral means being cowardly or complicit,” said El Ghaoui. “Our action is dictated by international law. We call on all governments to protect us,” he added, recalling that the action will take place in international waters.
Adapted from Italian by DeepL/ac
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