Hafez Al-Karmi, head of the Palestinian Forum in Europe, announced the start of preparations to launch several ships from Europe to "break the blockade" on the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with the Hamas website Al-Resalah, Karmi said that ships with European and international activists calling to "break the Israeli naval blockade" of Gaza would begin sailing in the direction of the Gaza Strip in June after the end of the month of Ramadan.
Karmi said that the "processions of return" would continue in Europe and condemned the Palestinian Authority, whose representatives he said are not taking part in mobilizing the public to support the “Palestinian problem” and demanding a halt to the "war crimes" in the Gaza Strip.
Multiple attempts have been made over the past decade to provoke international condemnation of Israel by sending flotillas towards Gaza. The first, and perhaps most famous flotilla, was the 2010 Mavi Marmara flotilla. When the ships taking part refused to stop, IDF soldiers boarded, upon which they were assaulted by the "humanitarian" activists wielding knives, iron bars and other lethal weapons.
The soldiers were forced to open fire to save their lives, killing ten of their assailants and sparking an international media backlash.
Despite the supposed "humanitarian" aims of the effort, Israel found the flotilla in fact was not carrying any humanitarian aid, or any other type of supplies for that matter.