Lebanese women to take aid to Gaza

An aid ship transporting supplies to Gaza will leave Lebanon in the coming days with dozens of women activists on board.

BEIRUT: An aid ship transporting medical supplies to Gaza will leave Lebanon in the coming days with dozens of women activists on board, one of the organisers told AFP on Tuesday.

"We are all independent women who believe in breaking the siege on Gaza and are committed to the enmity of the Zionist entity," said Samar Hajj, who is coordinating the trip.

She stressed the women were not affiliated with the militant group Hezbollah, or any other political organisation.

"This has nothing to do with Hezbollah even though it is an honour for us to be supporters of the resistance," said Hajj.

Hajj said so far 50 women, Muslim, Christian and secular, had signed up for the trip on board the cargo ship "Mariam." Among them are 30 Lebanese and 20 foreigners, including several European nationals.

She said all the logistics for the trip had been handled by the Free Palestine Movement, a non-governmental organisation.

"We are going there because it is our duty," she said. "The ship will be leaving very soon," she added, without giving an exact date.

Preparations are also underway by other pro-Palestinian activists to send an aid ship carrying educational supplies and journalists from Lebanon to Gaza.

Last year, a Lebanese freighter that tried to deliver aid to Gaza in defiance of the blockade was intercepted at sea by the Israeli navy.