This text was originally distributed by Manchester Anarchist Federation as a leaflet on a demonstration in solidarity with Gaza on Sunday 13/6/10

On May 31st in the dead of night, Israeli elite commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid, preventing it from reaching Gaza, killing nine people and injuring dozens in the process. Those on board had wanted to deliver 10,000 tonnes of food, medicine, construction materials, wheelchairs and other aid to Gaza to break a blockade imposed by Israel since 2007 and provide people with access to some basic necessities of life.

The mass of the population in Gaza has a fragile and miserable existence because of the blockade. It has enclosed Gaza and turned it into a prison; a prison which could not be maintained without the Egyptian government keeping their own border crossing firmly closed. While 70% of Gazans live on less than $1 a day, 75% rely on food aid and 60% have no daily access to clean water. They live in poverty while what little remains is daily attacked by the Israeli bombs and bulldozers