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Aid Flotilla Bound For Gaza Set To Leave Greece


A man sits at a UN food distribution center at a refugee camp in Gaza City.
A man sits at a UN food distribution center at a refugee camp in Gaza City.
Hundreds of activists are preparing to board aid ships bound for Gaza this week in defiance of an Israeli blockade.

About 350 Palestinian supporters from 22 countries are set to join the "Freedom Flotilla," which will sail from Greek ports.

In May 2010, nine Turkish activists died when Israeli forces seized the "Navi Marmara," a ship taking part in an international aid flotilla bound for Gaza.

Israel imposed its land and naval blockade on Gaza after the radical Islamist group Hamas that rejects peace with Israel seized control of the territory in 2007.

On June 26, Israeli authorities warned that any foreign journalist caught on board a Gaza-bound ship could face deportation and a 10-year ban from the country.

compiled from agency reports

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