Colau joins the fleet that will bring humanitarian aid to Gaza

Former mayor of Barcelona and leader of the Commons, Ada Colau, has joined the Freedom Flotilla, an initiative to try to break the blockade of Gaza and deliver food and medicine. Colau will leave Istanbul in the coming days with a consignment of a thousand workers and 5,500 tons of humanitarian aid.

This information has been put forward by Diary Ara and confirmed by the former mayor through an Instagram post. Along with Colau, other political figures will also attend, such as Martina Velarde, Podemos deputy.

“The situation, far from being resolved, has become worse,” Colau said. To the bombing of Gaza, “to which thousands of people have died, now hunger has also been added,” the former mayor said in reference to the blockade of humanitarian aid that Israel has imposed on the Palestinian territory. Giving an example, he said, “Amputations are being carried out without anesthesia.”

“There are thousands of people across Europe who do not feel well represented in our institutions and who do not want to normalize this barbarity,” he said.

The initiative comes after the killing of seven members of the NGO World Central Kitchen who were working with permission from the Israeli army. However, there is no coordination with Israeli authorities in this matter.

The flotilla will be composed of a cargo ship carrying 350 aid containers, and four ships that will carry observers, medical personnel, political representatives and media. The initiative has already attempted two actions to break the blockade. In 2010 the Israeli Navy attacked the ships and killed ten people, including nine activists and a journalist.