In Turkey, on Saturday, April 27th, ships that wanted to send emergency humanitarian aid to Gaza were stopped. The organizers of this line of ships called the pressure from Israel as the reason for this.

A coalition of aid organizations, which organized the queue, said that the withdrawal of two Guinea-Bissau-flagged ships from the queue, which are loaded with thousands of tons of emergency aid, has created an obstacle in the transfer of aid to Gaza.

“Sadly, Guinea-Bissau has decided to involve itself in the Israeli-imposed starvation, illegal siege and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza,” the coalition’s statement said.

In the press release, the blocking of these ships is called “a clear political move”.

About 280 volunteers called for the release of the stranded ships during a press conference in Istanbul, Turkey.

Three ships of this line, which are parked in Tuzla port, south of Istanbul, have been waiting to go to Gaza for a week.

Turkish officials and state media are silent about stopping these ships. Turkey had previously announced the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza by water and air.

In 2010, the passage of aid ships from the southern Turkish city of Antalya to Gaza caused tension between this country and Israel. 10 people were killed and 28 others were wounded in the firing of the Israeli forces on these ships.

United Nations agencies have warned that in order to prevent famine in Gaza, it is not enough to deliver aid by sea and called on Israel to open land routes to Gaza.

The war in Gaza began after an unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, which according to Israeli figures killed 1,170 mostly civilians and took 250 hostages.

According to the Ministry of Health under the authority of Hamas, at least 34,356 people, mostly women and children, have been killed during Israel’s retaliatory operations to eliminate Hamas in Gaza.

_{This article is based on a report by AFP.}