Two aid boats to break Gaza siege

Two boats carrying international activists are to arrive at the blockaded Gaza Strip to once again break the Israeli-imposed siege on the territory. The Free Gaza Movement announced on Wednesday that it had sent two solidarity ships, sailing from Cyprus, to the besieged Strip. The boats, which will dock in Gaza on Friday, carry 35 international human rights workers and journalists. According to the movement, 15 of the activists are from Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Bahrain, and 21 are from the United States, the UK, Scotland, Australia, Cyprus, Greece, Denmark and Ireland. Nobel laureate Mairead Maguire and former US congresswoman and presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney are among the notable figures onboard the boats, which will carry three tons of medical supplies and 15 tons of cement. The movement has called on the "free people of this world to participate in sending ships to the impoverished and besieged Gaza Strip, and to aid in easing the suffering of its people". The visiting activists will remain in Gaza for three days to view the destruction caused by the recent Israeli war, which left countless civilians dead and many others wounded. The three-week offensive resulted in the destruction of around 20,000 homes and other buildings, inflicting heavy damage on infrastructures, disrupting the flow of clean water and causing sewage overflow. The humanitarian crisis in the strip -- home to some 1.5 million Palestinians -- has intensified as Israel refuses to ease the crippling blockade it has enforced on Gaza since June 2007.