BRUSSELS, (PIC)-- The European campaign for lifting the siege on Gaza has deeply appreciated on Thursday efforts of the foreign supporters who boarded two boats and went to the besieged Gaza Strip, considering such attempt as the first step in breaking the wall of the unjust blockade.

"The success of the two boats in breaking a circle in the chain of the oppressive [Israeli] siege spurs us into unleashing more ships to the Strip in order to save the besieged people there who have lost nearly 241 patients out of 1500 citizens whom their lives were at risk due to lack of medicine [in Gaza Strip], in addition to Israeli closure of all Gaza crossing points", asserted Dr. Arafat Madi, head of the campaign in a statement he issued in the Belgium capital Brussels, and a copy of which was obtained by the PIC.

He also stressed the necessity of turning such successful attempt into a first step towards breaking the siege through land by pressuring the Egyptian authorities into opening the Rafah crossing point, the only exit that links the 1.5 million Palestinians in the Strip with the rest of the world.

In this regard, Madi confirmed that Egypt could practically end the suffering of the tens of thousands of Palestinian families in the tiny Strip by opening the Rafah crossing point, and allowing food, fuel, and humanitarian aid into it.

Moreover, Madi pledged not to spare a chance in rallying the European public opinion behind efforts to break the siege, vowing that his group would continue its efforts and activities to pressure all concerned parties into lifting the three-year-old blockade.

Madi's group had held a number of rallies and sit-ins in front of government offices in various European cities in addition to information campaigns inside university campuses and through the e-mail with the aim to highlight and shed light on the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip.