Israel on the high seas.

[billy]

Can they really?

Without dragging this off-topic:

The Gaza blockade has closed off virtually ALL possibilities of aid reaching the Palestinians in the region.
Sources are needed to corroborate that statement I feel.. and not the Israeli Prime Minister saying it's true.

On Topic:
I agree there was obviously an alternate agenda with the flotilla and the Free Gaza movement's prescence in the waters.

Nameably to draw attention to the cause by any means necessary.

They certainly achieved it.

Palestinians are the most heavily subsidised people, in per capita terms, on the planet.

source; the telegraph

although its an israeli source i doubt they would lie as to what the WHo, UNICEF, and many more agencies sent in, if they did they would be villified for lying.

it's actually a good read.;

Israel’s Humanitarian Aid in Gaza ;
source;


#

Humanitarian Aid Transferred from Israel to Gaza in 2009:
# 738,576 tons of humanitarian aid was transferred from Israel into Gaza through the Israel-Gaza goods crossings
# More than 26 million gallons (100 million liters) of heavy duty diesel for the Gaza power station was transferred from Israel to Gaza
# 10,544 patients from Gaza, along with their escorts, passed into Israel for medical attention
# 4,883 tons of medical equipment and medicines entered Gaza
# 44,500 H1N1 vaccines sent from Israel to Gaza95 truckloads of equipment for water and sewage systems were transferred into Gaza from Israel

source;

U.S. to Give $900 Million in Gaza Aid, Officials Say
sorry i can't link to the page which is in the washington post;

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration intends to provide some $900 million to help rebuild Gaza after the Israeli incursion that ended last month, administration officials said Monday.

In an early sign of how the administration plans to deal with Hamas, the militant Islamist group that controls Gaza, an official said that the aid would not go to Hamas but that it would be funneled through nongovernmental organizations.

By seeking to aid Gazans but not Hamas, the administration is following the lead of the Bush administration, which sent money to Gaza through nongovernmental organizations. In December, it said it would give $85 million to the United Nations agency that provides aid to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.