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Nicosia: Middle East envoy Tony Blair's sister-in-law and more than 40 other activists sailed from Cyprus on Friday in a bid to challenge an Israeli sea blockade of 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Setting out in two wooden boats, the "Free Gaza" activists expect to arrive off Gaza, whose shores are patrolled by the Israeli navy, on Saturday after a 240 nautical mile journey.
Among the 44 activists highlighting poor living conditions of Palestinians in Gaza, is Lauren Booth, whose brother-in-law Blair is the former British prime minister and now the international community's Middle East peace envoy.
"I would tell him to come on board and visit the people of Gaza as he should have done many many times by now and see the situation himself, then act upon what he sees," Booth told reporters, referring to Blair.
A previous attempt by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation to sail to Haifa from Cyprus with Palestinian deportees failed in 1988, when a limpet bomb blew a hole in the hull of a ferry boat they had chartered.
An Israeli army spokesman declined to say whether the navy had plans to intercept the ship before it reached Gaza.
The activists say they plan to deliver aid to Gaza but their main aim is to highlight the conditions of Palestinians suffering shortages of everything from food to fuel since an Israeli crackdown.
"The siege that the Israelis have imposed on Gaza is not only illegal in terms of international law, it is also immoral," said Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian with Israeli and US citizenship.
"Global institutions and the governments of the world know what is happening and are not doing anything about it."
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