At approximately 3:45 am on Tuesday, 29 April 2014, a boat, named ‘Gaza Ark’, exploded in the Gaza Strip.
The boat was being prepared to sail from Gaza, as an advocacy initiative against the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip and the critical humanitarian situation affecting 1.
8 million Palestinians living in Gaza.
The boat was supposed to carry peace and solidarity activists along with symbolic products from Gaza, which are generally prevented from being exported by the Israeli authorities.
The symbolic initiative was developed to put a spotlight on the closure of Gaza, which amounts to collective punishment and grave and systematic violations of international law.
Mustafa Haydar Abu Oda, 25, who worked as a night guard by the boat, received a phone call at approximately 3:40 am on Tuesday, 29 April 2014 from an unknown source, informing him to stay away from the boat as it was subject to attack.
The guard got off of the boat for five minutes.
When it appeared that there was no threat, he approached the boat to board it again and to keep watch.
He was about five meters away from the boat when the explosion took place and he lost consciousness.
In his affidavit to Al Mezan, Mr.
Mahfouz Al Kabareeti, the executive director of the Gaza Ark project, stated that they continuously received emails about the boat, some reaching murder threats, and the sources were always unknown.
The symbolic initiative falls within the stifling closure of the Gaza Strip imposed by Israeli authorities and resulting in the barring of all crossings that connect Gaza Strip with the outside world.
The closure severely restricts freedom of movement of individuals and goods; the narrowest of criteria remains the benchmark for movement in and out.
The closure creates inhumane conditions for the population of Gaza, especially for the thousands of families whose houses were destroyed in Israeli escalations on the Gaza Strip.
The deteriorating economic situation and the faltering efforts to improve the conditions of the public sectors, including health, water and sanitation, electricity, and education, exacerbate the rising rates of poverty, unemployment and disease.
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights strongly condemns the attack on the Gaza Ark and the Israeli collective punishment imposed on the Gaza Strip,, which impacts on all aspects of life in Gaza, particularly for Gaza’s most vulnerable populations.
Therefore, Al Mezan reiterates its previous calls on the international community to work immediately and effectively to lift the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, to ensure the entry of essential goods required for reconstruction, as well as food, medical supplies, clothes and fuel.
Al Mezan asserts that collective punishment imposed on the Gaza Strip constitutes a grave violation of human rights and the principles of international humanitarian law and amounts to crime against humanity.
Al Mezan calls on the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention, to uphold their legal and moral responsibility to stop these crimes and demand investigations into the perpetrators in line with international standards.
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