Turkish ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza denied right to sail, flags removed

Ships intending to sail from Türkiye to Gaza with humanitarian aid were denied the right to sail, according to for the Associated Press.

“On Thursday afternoon, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition was contacted by the Guinea-Bissau International Ship Registry (GBISR), requesting an inspection of our lead ship – Akdenez,” said the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group behind the ships . he said in a press release Saturday.

“This was a highly unusual request as our vessel had already undergone all required inspections; however, we agree,” the statement continues. “The inspector arrived on Thursday night. On Friday afternoon, before the inspection was completed, the GBISR, in a blatantly political move, informed the Freedom Flotilla Coalition that it had removed the Guinea-Bissau flag from two Freedom Flotilla ships, one of which is our cargo ship, already loaded with more than 5,000 tons of vital aid for the Palestinians of Gaza.”

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition also stated in the statement that “without a flag we cannot sail” and accused Guinea-Bissau of being “complicit in Israel’s deliberate starvation, illegal siege and genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.”

Last week, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) confirmed to The Hill that it will work with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza across the sea.

“This is a complex operation that requires coordination between many partners and our conversations are ongoing. Across Gaza, the safety of humanitarian actors is critical to the delivery of assistance and we continue to advocate for measures that will provide greater assurances to humanitarians,” a USAID spokesperson said in a statement.

US and WFP officials are working on how they can deliver aid to Palestinian civilians “in an independent, neutral and impartial manner,” they added.