HUMAN rights organisations announced today that they would organise an aid flotilla to Gaza to breach Israel’s illegal blockade.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said it would sail to Gaza “within 2014” in a “reflection of the growing worldwide solidarity with the Palestinian people, from the US to Malaysia, from Scandinavia to South Africa.”

The boats also aim to carry back Palestinian goods purchased by buyers worldwide to “complete the work of Gaza’s Ark” — a cargo boat intended to breach Israel’s punitive embargo which was bombed by Israeli Defence Force aircraft last month.

Flotillas were organised by the coalition in 2011 and 2010 — when Israeli commandos stormed the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara in international waters and killed nine passengers.

FFC declared its latest humanitarian mission as an uneasy truce between Israel and Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and has retaliated against the last month’s Israeli military strikes, entered its second day.

Talks between Palestinian representatives and Israel through Egyptian mediators continued in Cairo.

An Israeli official said there had been “no progress” in negotiations, although a Palestinian delegate said Israel had offered to increase the number of lorries permitted to enter Gaza daily and to allow the direct transfer of funds from the Palestinian Authority — based in the West Bank — and government employees in Gaza.

Hamas is seeking an end to Israel’s Egypt-backed blockade on the Gaza Strip as a condition for a durable ceasefire, while Israel is demanding the group disarm completely — which would leave Gaza unable to respond to future Israeli assaults.