Il Nuovo Postiglione - Two ships set sail from Greece to join Gaza aid flotilla

Chanting "Free Palestine", around 500 people gathered at the port of Ermopoulis to see off the two Greece-flagged boats, the Oxygen and Ilektra, carrying goods for famine-hit Gaza along with five and eight people on board respectively.

"This is the way to show Israel that it shouldn't have the right to impose starvation," Kostas Fourikos, a 39-year-old crew member told AFP. "And of course to send the message of solidarity to the Palestinians, who suffer so much."

Another crew member, Angeliki Savvantoglou, said the flotilla aimed to "put pressure on our own governments to also stop collaborating with Israel and stop this genocide.

"Eventually, we want this genocide to stop," the 35-year-old added.

The two vessels are set to join the rest of the fleet, which hopes to help relieve the spiralling humanitarian crisis in Gaza as Israel's war against the Palestinian militant group Hamas grinds on.

In August, as a result of the conflict, the United Nations officially declared famine in and around Gaza City, home to around a million people.

Israel denies the existence of famine in the coastal territory.

- Attack fears -

Backed by high-profile participants including environmental activist Greta Thunberg, the pro-Palestinian Global Sumud flotilla describes itself as an independent group not linked to any government or political party.

Sumud is Arabic word for "resilience".

Its journey to the Gaza Strip has been dogged by at least two suspected drone attacks while docked off the coast of Tunisia, sparking concern for the safety of the Greek ships.

Crew member Savvantoglou played down such concerns fears. "I think we are all worried, but we're also all very prepared for as much as we can be prepared for," she told AFP.

"What we are facing all these days with the bureaucracy or even with the drone attacks in Tunisia is nothing in comparison to just one minute of being alive in Gaza."

Along with Rhodes and Crete, Syros saw demonstrations rallying hundreds of people in July to prevent the Israeli cruise ship Crown Iris from docking, in response to Israel's military campaign in Gaza.

The Gaza war erupted in October 2023, triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,871 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The UN considers those figures to be reliable.

H.Zampino--INP