DOHA, Sept 16 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has urged that the humanitarian aid flotilla sailing towards Gaza be allowed safe passage, emphasising that it must not be blocked or turned back with violence.
Delivering Malaysia’s national statement at the Extraordinary Arab-Islamic Summit here yesterday, Anwar said the flotilla carries not weapons of war but the promise of aid for the besieged people of Palestine’s Gaza.
“It is a mission of mercy, and we must do all in our power to see that it reaches its shore.
“To let it be turned back with violence is to betray the charge that our conscience has placed upon us: to defend the weak, to shelter the oppressed, to give food to the hungry,” he said.
The Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) is currently crossing the Mediterranean Sea, carrying food, medicine, and messages of peace to the shores of Gaza.
The mission, comprising more than 50 boats with volunteers from 44 countries, is aimed at delivering humanitarian aid of food and medicine to the besieged enclave.
Anwar is the patron of Sumud Nusantara, one of the groups participating in the mission that gathers boats and volunteers from across the world.
Representing Malaysia in the flotilla are Cinta Gaza Malaysia CEO Muhammad Nadir Al-Nuri Kamaruzaman, singer Zizi Kirana and actress Ardell Aryana.
On September 10, the main ship Family was struck by a drone while docked at Sidi Bou Said in Tunisia, followed by an attack on the boat Alma on September 9.
No casualties were reported in the attacks.
On September 13, an Anadolu correspondent reported that an initial convoy of GSF vessels had departed Bizerte Port in Tunisia en route to the Gaza Strip.
