Greenpeace calls upon the international community to urgently uphold international law and ensure the immediate release of the Freedom Flotilla humanitarian vessel the Madleen along with its crew.
The ship was illegally seized in international waters by Israeli forces off the coast of Gaza as it attempted to break the long standing blockade preventing the delivery of life saving aid and food by sea.
The Israeli Government continues to enforce a full blockade by land and sea of aid and food from international organisations, compounding an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Blocking aid and targeting those who deliver it are grave violations of international humanitarian law.
While the people of Gaza continue to suffer from the devastating acts of collective punishment, the international community has utterly failed to respond with the necessary moral urgency and integrity. Their inaction is not neutrality. It is complicity.
The ongoing weaponisation of aid has placed over two million on the precipice of famine with most being considered to exist in either a state of emergency or catastrophic food deprivation and malnourishment.
The death toll of bullets and bombs will be lost in the shadows when compared to the innocent lives taken as a consequence withholding bread and medicine! Only by immediately ending the siege and releasing all UN aid convoys amassed on the border can famine be averted.
Greenpeace demands:
- An immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire to halt the assault on civilians and the environment.
- The release by Hamas of all hostages.
- The release by Israel of all illegally detained Palestinians.
- The imposition of targeted sanctions and a comprehensive arms embargo, enforced by the international community.
- The unhindered delivery of aid by the UN and other humanitarian organizations.
An end to the illegal occupation of Palestine. Greenpeace supports a future in which Israel and Palestine live side by side in peace, within recognised borders, consistent with international law and relevant UN resolutions.
If the international community continues to stand-by without taking concrete action as ethnic cleansing, war crimes and crimes against humanity mount, it will have to answer for aiding and abetting a genocide. The time to act is now!
