Colors removed, sailing rights denied to Turkish ships providing humanitarian assistance to Gaza | The Hill

A fleet of Freedom Flotilla Coalition presenters at Tuzla port in Istanbul, Turkey, Friday, April 19, 2024. ( AP Photo/Khalil Hamra )
” On Thursday afternoon, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was contacted by the Guinea Bissau International Ships Registry ( GBISR ), requesting an inspection of our lead ship – Akdenez”, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group behind the ships, said in a Saturday press release.
” This was a very strange request as our ship had now passed all required checks, however, we agreed”, the launch continues. ” The investigator arrived on Thursday night. On Friday evening, before the examination was completed, the GBISR, in a blatantly political walk, informed the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that it had withdrawn the Guinea Bissau symbol from two of the Freedom Flotilla’s ships, one of which is our goods ship, now loaded with over 5000 tons of life- saving aid for the Palestinians of Gaza”.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition claimed in the release that “without a symbol, we cannot ship” and that Guinea-Bissau was” accomplices in Israel’s deliberate hunger, illegal battle, and holocaust of Palestinians in Gaza.”
The United States Agency for International Development ( USAID ) confirmed to The Hill last week that it would collaborate with the World Food Programme ( WFP ) to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza by sea.  ,
Our interactions are continued because this is a complex activity that necessitates cooperation between some partners. The safety and security of humanitarian actors in Gaza is crucial to the distribution of aid, and we continue to support measures that will provide philanthropists greater assurances, according to a declaration from USAID.
U. S. and WFP officials are working on how they can provide assistance to Israeli civilians “in an impartial, balanced, and independent way”, they added.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This fabric may not be published, spread, altered, or redistributed.