Nine brave Bristolians will be officially welcomed home to the city at the Council House this evening, after their 34-day, 4,000-mile aid trip to Gaza at Christmas.
The group delivered more than £20,000 of humanitarian, medical and educational aid, raised by the people of Bristol on January 6 – despite clashes with Egyptian authorities at the border.
Supported by Bristol City Council, the group included four vans and mini-buses and a 44-ton truck painted with Banksy-style murals of Bristol & Gaza on one side, and Wallace & Gromit on the other. The group joined the main UK Viva Palestina convoy in London on December 5 and 250 people of all denominations set off across Europe and the Middle East to Gaza.
Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Professor Manuel Hassassian, will join the welcome, along with Gaza journalist Sameh Habeeb, the Founder, Chair and Editor– in-Chief of the Palestine Telegraph.
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Until now, the besieged Gaza Strip has stayed free of the novel coronavirus spreading across the world. As the Gaza Strip has been under a stringent Israeli-led blockade for nearly 13 years, the spread of the coronavirus - officially known as COVID-19 - has become the topic of discussion for many Palestinians, with some joking that the blockade was preventing them from being exposed.But as authorities in the coastal Palestinian enclave gear up to contain any potential outbreak, serious questions have arisen about the risks and implications of such a scenario. But given its already difficult humanitarian situation and high population density, an outbreak in the Gaza Strip could prove to be catastrophic, health officials have warned. "If the virus enters Gaza and spreads, it will get out of hand," Gaza Ministry of Health spokesperson Majdi Thuhair told Middle East Eye, as he explained that a severe shortage of resources and personnel would make it near impossible
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