Confirmed: No humanitarian aid on Mavi Marmara
Israel's Foreign Ministry is confirming a story I ran on Wednesday that said that there was no humanitarian aid on the Mavi Marmara, the ship that confronted the IDF in international waters last Monday.Of the seven flotilla ships, only four were freight ships. The Challenger 1 (small yacht), the Sfendonh (small passenger boat) and the Mavi Marmara (passenger ship) did not carry any humanitarian aid, except for the passengers' personal belongings. Of the four freight ships - Gaza, Sofia, Defeny and Rachel Corrie - as of June 7, SIBAT had only offloaded equipment from the Defeny.Let's go to the videotape.
As of June 7, the equipment offloaded was loaded onto 26 trucks. (An additional eight trucks are waiting at the Kerem Shalom crossing to enter the Gaza Strip.)
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It should be noted that:
1. The equipment does not constitute humanitarian aid in the accepted sense (basic foodstuffs, new and functional equipment, fresh medicines).
2. The equipment awaiting entry into the Gaza Strip, both at the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Defense Ministry base, has been approved by COGAT.
3. The humanitarian aid on all the ships was scattered in the ships' holds and thrown onto piles and not packed properly for transport. The equipment was not packaged and not properly placed on wooden bases.
4. Because of the improper packing, some of the equipment was crushed by the weight in transit.
5. The medicines and sensitive equipment (operating theater equipment, new clothing, etc.) are being kept in cool storage at the Defense Ministry base. Some of the medicines have already expired, and some will expire soon. The operating theater equipment, which should be kept sterile, was carelessly wrapped.
6. A large part of the equipment, particularly shoes and clothing, was used and worn.
7. The construction material must be approved by COGAT and the political echelons before it can be transferred to the Gaza Strip.
Does anyone still believe that the goal of this stunt was to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:19 AM
4 Comments:
It was about Israel. The uproar over the last week was never about Gaza.
Carl, I saw this video posted before the Marmara event even took place.
I believe it's a film from a while back, most probably the Karin A.
This is a mistake that needs to be retracted.
Shy Guy,
The Karine A was a weapons ship - it didn't bring any aid.
That video is straight from the Foreign Ministry's web page.
There was some confusion earlier in the week - there was a video floating around of weapons being unloaded that turned out to have come from the Francop last fall and not from the Mavi Marmara. I took that video down before it was scheduled so none of you saw it on the blog this week.
OK, I mixed up the Francop video with this one. Never mind.
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