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IOF Blow up ‘Gaza Ark’ Boat

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29 April 2014

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 Palestiniansliving 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.