VIDEO
Dr. Ramzy Baroud is a US-Palestinian journalist, media consultant, an author, internationally-syndicated columnist, Editor of Palestine Chronicle (1999-present), former Managing Editor of London-based Middle East Eye, former Editor-in-Chief of The Brunei Times and former Deputy Managing Editor of Al Jazeera online.
This video is his endorsement of the 2024 Freedom Flotilla and why it is significant.
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Continue readingAlJazeera English podcast – The Take, 7 May 2024
As aid barely trickles into Gaza, a group of activists are trying to take matters into their own hands. The Freedom Flotilla movement planned to set sail to Gaza, bringing more than 5000 tons of aid and taking on great personal risk. The Take looks into their years-long struggle to break Israel’s siege on Gaza.
VIDEO by AlJazeera 7 May 2024
The Rafah border crossing in Gaza has been closed on the Palestinian side, due to the presence of Israeli tanks, according to the border authority.
Israeli tanks are now blocking the main artery bringing humanitarian aid into the strip – parts of which are already experiencing ‘full-blown famine.’
That comes after a night of heavy Israeli bombardment in Rafah, in southern Gaza.
At least 14 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli strikes, in the past few hours.
The attacks follow a unanimous vote by the Israeli war cabinet, to continue its operation in the city – and comes despite Hamas’ announcement that it’s ready to accept a ceasefire deal.
Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum is in Rafah, in southern Gaza and Mohammed Jamjoom is on the phone now from the Jordanian capital, Amman for the latest developments
VIDEO: Democracy Now! talks with one of the Freedom Flotilla organisers, Huwaida Arraf 30 April 2024
Hundreds of activists aboard the Gaza Freedom Flotilla were blocked in Turkey on Saturday as they attempted to set sail for the besieged Palestinian territory with 5,500 tons of aid. Organizers say Guinea-Bissau withdrew its flagged ships under pressure from Israel and the United States.
The Gaza Freedom Flotilla brings together a “cross-section of humanity” in hundreds of community leaders from all walks of life to raise awareness of Israel’s blockade of Gaza and rally support for its end. “We are determined to stop this by direct action” where international governments “have sadly failed,” says one of the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla, the Palestinian American human rights attorney Huwaida Arraf. “This is not the end. We are pursuing this legally and politically,” she says about this latest “minor setback.” Arraf was part of the previous iteration of the 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla, in which 10 participants were killed in an attack from the Israeli Navy when it raided the ships in international waters.
Ed: Our Kia Ora Gaza team of 3 Kiwi doctors are due to return home this week, until the flotilla is able to sail again.
TVNZ One News lead item today on the delay of the Freedom Flotilla.
VIDEO REPORT: On April 26, 2024, in Istanbul, Turkey, the organizers of the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza announced that, at Israel’s request, the government of Guinea-Bissau had withdrawn its flag from two of the three vessels that comprise this year’s emergency flotilla to Gaza. As Dimitri Lascaris explains, Guinea-Bissau’s action constitutes a flagrant violation of its obligation under Article 1 of the Genocide Convention to prevent genocide.(Video: Dimitri Lascaris)
Dr Adnan Ali (left) and the other Kiwi doctors who are participants on the Freedom Flotilla, joined a big demonstration in Istanbul today demanding safe & unhindered passage for the international flotilla to Gaza. (Photo: Kia Ora Gaza)
GENEVA (27 April 2024) – UN experts (Francesca Albanese & Michael Fakhri) today demanded safe passage for the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, whose ships departing Türkiye will be carrying 5,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid and hundreds of international humanitarian observers to the besieged Gaza Strip. “As the Freedom Flotilla approaches Palestinian territorial waters off Gaza, Israel must adhere to international law, including recent orders from the International Court of Justice to ensure unimpeded access for humanitarian aid,” the experts said.
They issued the following statement:
Continue reading
/ Coalition statements, Featured, News, Press releases / By alex
For immediate release, Thursday April 25.
The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the trip to Gaza.
However, today we received word of an administrative roadblock initiated by Israel in an attempt to prevent our departure. Israel is pressuring the Republic of Guinea Bissau to withdraw its flag from our lead ship—Akdeniz (“Mediterranean”). This triggered a request for an additional inspection, this one by the flag state, that delays our April 26 planned departure.
This is another example of Israel obstructing the delivery of life-saving aid to the people in Gaza who face a deliberately created famine. How many more children will die of malnutrition and dehydration because of this delay and an ongoing siege which must be broken?
This is not the first time that Israel has used these kinds of tactics to stop our ships from sailing. We have overcome them before and are diligently working to overcome this latest attempt. Our vessels have already passed all required inspections and we are confident that the Akdeniz will pass this inspection provided there is no political interference. We expect this to be no more than a few days delay. Israel will not break our resolve to reach the people of Gaza.
VIDEO INTERVIEW: In Khan Younis, the Palestinian Civil Defence recovered nearly 300 bodies from a mass grave at the Nasser Medical Complex AND it says there are more under the rubble, with search efforts continuing. Mads Gilbert, Norwegian physician and a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Tromso has more. (Video: TNT 24 April 2024)
Mandla Mandela, member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul yesterday, as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza.
Mandela is also the Ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine. When he met with flotilla participants yesterday he stated: “It was not only our efforts in South Africa that defeated the Apartheid regime, but it was (also) efforts in every corner of the world through international solidarity of the anti-Apartheid campaign.” He said, that while his grandfather was incarcerated for life imprisonment on Robben Island, he drew emmense inspiration from the Palestinian struggle. He added that Palestine “was the greatest moral issue of our time, yet many government choose to remain silent and look away. Many have been complicit in the genocide, the ethnic cleansing, the war crimes, and crimes against humanity that have been meted out on a daily basis against our Palestinian brothers and sisters – not just the 7th of October, but for the past 76 years.”
Mandela chats with Dr Adnan Ali, leader of the Kia Ora Gaza team from Aotearoa/NZ. (Photo: Kia Ora Gaza)
Freedom Flotilla participants for all around the world, including the team of Kiwi doctors, join in a massive demonstration of solidarity for Gaza in Istanbul yesterday. The international flotilla ships are due to head for Gaza to deliver 5,500 tons of humanitarian & medical aid this week.
Thursday, 18 April 2024
Press Release: Aotearoa Healthcare Workers For Palestine
Dr Wasfi Shahin, Dr Faiez Idais and Dr Adnan Al-Kenani are three Kiwi doctors bringing humanitarian and medical aid to Gaza as part of Kia Ora Gaza’s Freedom Flotilla. They left from Auckland International Airport at 11am today. AHW4P committee members, Nurse Practitioner Mikey Brenndorfer and Occupational Therapist Romelli Rodriguez-Jolly, joined the supporters gathered to bid them farewell.
“We at Aotearoa Healthcare Workers for Palestine would like to extend our gratitude to our medical colleagues for their courage and wish them all the best in their humanitarian mission”, said AHW4P spokesperson Dr Raisa Ahmed. “We encourage everyone to donate to Kia Ora Gaza for this very important mission. Above all, we hope they will succeed and return home safely.”
Continue readingTNA meets activists from Freedom Flotilla Coalition on the Akdeniz ship seeking to break the Israeli siege on Gaza, hoping to bring relief to its people
By Salwa Amor, the New Arab, 20 April, 2024
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Palestine solidarity activists are preparing a flotilla to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, vowing to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory on board the Akdeniz, a seven-floor passenger ship.
Currently docked in Istanbul, the boat will carry 800 people from over 30 nations, from Indonesia to Hawaii, and is expected to transport 5500 tonnes of aid to Gaza once it sets sail from Turkey in the coming days.
Continue reading
International participants arrive to sail with Freedom Flotilla to Break the Siege
ISTANBUL, TÜRKİYE: Hours ago, the media reported that Israel has attacked Iran. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition stands here to remind the world that with all the escalation between Israel and Iran, the killing is occurring in Gaza. While those two countries go back and forth, we cannot let Israel distract the world from what is causing far more death, disease, and destruction: Israel’s policies of starving and continued bombardment of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children.
On Friday, hundreds of civilians from dozens of countries [including Aotearoa/New Zealand] are meeting in Istanbul to prepare to sail very soon for Gaza, carrying thousands of tons of life-saving food and medicine. The Freedom Flotilla aims to break Israel’s unlawful siege of Gaza and demand an immediate ceasefire to save the lives of thousands of Palestinians.
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A passionate haka (pictured above) reverberated throughout the Auckland Airport today, as a medical team of three Kiwi doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters, before flying out to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors hope to be able to reach Gaza and join with other flotilla medics to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid and treat wounded patients in the war-ravaged enclave. Their participation is facilitated by Kia Ora Gaza. (Photo: Jo Currie)
Kiwi medics, Dr Shahin, Dr Idais and Dr Ali salute the airport gathering. (Photo: Achmat Eesau)
Part of the crowd of well-wishers at the airport. (Photo: Jo Currie)
The three Kiwi doctors with fellow health workers at the airport send-off today (Photo: Jo Currie)
Here are the rallies and events this weekend:
Continue readingVIDEO: Having worked with Doctors Without Borders all over the world as a surgeon and physician, Carlos Trotta says that the Freedom Flotilla isn’t just needed, but is absolutely critical.
Carlos is a physician and surgeon from Argentina and is one of the people on board the Freedom Flotilla due to set sail in April. He worked in Gaza as a physician for MSF in 2009 saying the conditions were appalling then. He now describes the situation as an emergency. (Video by Freedom Flotilla Coalition, 17 April 2024)
[Ed: Support the Freedom Flotilla and our three Kiwi doctors on board, and follow progress on kiaoragaza.net Donations can by made by direct payment to our Kia Ora Gaza Trust account: 03-0211-0447718-000]
Kia Ora Gaza was established from a series of public meetings to organise Kiwi participation in international efforts to end the siege of Gaza & promote practical solidarity for Palestine. This followed the Israeli commando raid on the Mavi Mamara-led peace flotilla in international waters in 2010 which resulted in the deaths of 10 civilian peace activists.
Since then Kia Ora Gaza has organised or supported the following projects:
1. Sent a team of 6 Kiwis on the 140-vehicle Viva Palestina international land convoy in 2010, driving and donating 3 ambulances to Gaza – part of the $7million medical aid delivered.
2. Supported Kiwi participant Harmeet Sooden to join the Canadian boat, Tahrir on Freedom Flotilla 2 to Gaza in 2011.
3. Sent a team of 4 Kiwis on the “Miles of Smiles” land convoy to Gaza with 10 tonnes of medical aid, 20124. Sent a fact-finding mission for www.kiaoragaza.net to Gaza Nov, 2012
5. Sent donations for food relief following the 2014 floods in Gaza
6. Co-organised nation-wide protests each weekend during Israel’s 50-day bombardment of Gaza in 2014
7. Transferred $25,000 to Gaza for urgent medical aid via Palestinian International Medical Aid in July 2014.
8. Sponsored an education project training young Palestinian journalists in Gaza 2015
9. Facilitated “NZ-Gaza twinning agreements” with a sports club and community centre in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza.
10. Co-sponsored 2 ambulances for Doctors Worldwide rehabilitation centre in Khan Younis (Israeli bombing in 2014 destroyed 26 ambulances in Gaza)
11. Maintains website: kiaoragaza.net and facebook pages.
12. Co-hosted the NZ Conference on Palestine, 2013 and 2016
13. Facilitated 2 Maori TV journalists on board the Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in 2015
14. Co-hosted NZ speaking tours including:
– Harry Fear (UK doco-maker) & Roger Fowler (Kia Ora Gaza) in 2013
– Jeff Halper (Director, Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions) 2013
– Miko Peled (author) 2013
– Yousef Aljamal (Palestinian commentator) 2013
– Amira Hass (Israeli Journalist, Haaretz) 2015
– Samah Sabawi (Palestinian Writer) 2015
– Emad Burnat (Palestinian Film-maker) 2016
– Ali Abunimah (founder Electronic Intifada) 2016
– Rafeef Ziadah (Palestinian poet) April 2017
– Gideon Levy (Israeli journalist) 2017
– Huwaida Arraf (Palestinian lawyer) and Justine Sachs. 2018
-Dr Ramzy Baroud (US/Palestinian author) 2018
– Dr Salman Abu-Sitta (Palestinian author) 2019
15. Aug 2016 co-hosted special Auckland screening of Emad Burnat’s documentary ‘5 Broken Cameras’
16. Sept 2016. Transferred $6000 raised in our appeal to Palestinian doco-maker Emad Burnat towards a new camera.
17. Sept 2016 facilitated Green MP Marama Davidson to join Women’s Boat to Gaza peace flotilla.
18. Feb 2017 co-hosted film screening event: “The Idol”
19. April 2017, co-hosted three-city NZ tour with Palestinian performance poet Rafeef Ziadah and musician Phil Monsour.
20. May 2017 ‘Salt Water Challenge’ solidarity actions with Palestinian hunger strikers.
21. May 2017 transferred $1000 donation to Al Ahli Sports club in Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Gaza for football equipment.
22. July 2017 transferred our EURO1000 share to the FFC Gaza fishers project via MyCare Humanitarian Care Malaysia.
23. July 2017 transferred $1000 donation to Al Ahli Sports Club, Nuseirat Refugee Camp, Gaza.
24. Sept 2017 the Freedom Flotilla Coalition delivered fishing equipment as solidarity aid to 400 Gazan fishers via MyCare, Malaysia.
25. Kia Ora Gaza co-hosted a public lecture in Auckland on 3 December 2017, by renowned Haaretz journalist and writer, Gideon Levy.
26. January 2018, Kia Ora Gaza organiser, Roger Fowler, attends the Freedom Flotilla Coalition conference in Sweden to plan the 2018 international flotilla to break the illegal blockade of Gaza.
27. Co-organised Nationwide ‘Day of Action’ for Free Palestine on Sat 3 February 2018 demanding the release of all children held in Israeli prisons.
28. Co-hosted a public meeting at Auckland Uni with US/Palestinian writer Huwaida Arraf and Justine Sachs from Dayenu: NZ Jews against Occupation, March 2018.
29. Co-organised Auckland rallies in support of Palestinian March of Return, from April 2018.
30. Co-organised a five-city speaking tour with acclaimed US/Palestinian author, Dr Ramzy Baroud. May 2018.
31. Facilitated NZ participation in the 2018 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. Selected veteran human rights campaigner and union leader, Mike Treen to represent NZ. Co-organised NZ speaking tour with Mike Treen.
32. The 2021 Kia Ora Gaza appeal for the ‘Miles of Smiles’ solidarity convoy of 37 ambulances and medical aid for Gaza raised $NZ35,000 to sponsor one ambulance together with our Freedom Flotilla Coalition partners. FFC has postponed the next flotilla until after Covid travel restrictions are lifted.
The ambulance the Kia Ora Gaza co-sponsored servicing the disabled community in Gaza.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition is organising another international peace flotilla to challenge Israel's illegal 13 year naval blockade of Gaza and for a just future for Palestine - after the Covid-19 pandemic travel restrictions have been lifted. For updates visit the FFC facebook page and website: freedomflotilla.org You can support NZ participation in this project by checking the options in the 'How to donate to Kia Ora Gaza' segment below. Appeal target: $40,000 to cover costs of our share of the purchase and upgrade of the flotilla boats, airfares and accommodation for our NZ participant.
Roger Fowler teaching Kiwi-English at Al Aqsa University, Gaza City.
In June 2012, Kia Ora Gaza sent a four-person team to Gaza as part of an international aid convoy. Our Kiwi convoyers were (from left) Roger Fowler, Tali Williams, Gibran Janif and Hone Fowler. This land convoy, which left from Cairo, delivered ten tonnes of urgently needed medical supplies to health authorities in Gaza. In November 2012 Kia Ora Gaza sent Roger Fowler on a fact-finding mission to Gaza (see his reports posted Nov-Dec 2012 on this website). UK documentary-maker Harry Fear joined Roger on a speaking tour of NZ on his return.
In November 2010, six volunteers from Kia Ora Gaza joined an international land convoy which delivered NZ$7 million in medical aid to Gaza. The convoy, which left from London and was joined by other columns from North Africa and the Middle East, arrived at night in Gaza City to a rapturous welcome from Palestinian throngs.
Kia Ora Gaza 