Surgeon on course for aid mission

David Halpin: Aid mission spurred on by bloodshed

A Devon surgeon is preparing to cast off on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

David Halpin has chartered a cargo vessel to ferry 55 tonnes of food, clothing and medical supplies 3,000 miles to help the Palestinian people.

The mission will cost about £95,000, but he has so far received donations totalling £13,500.

The cargo, including flour, vegetable oil, Cheddar cheese and 60 boxes of woollen clothing, is due to be load on to the 62-metre vessel Barbara on Thursday morning.

He hopes to set sail on Friday with three supporters.

The vessel will carry a 75 ft banner reading "justice, peace, brotherhood of man"and "reverence from all life", as well as another bearing the words "shalom" and "salam".

The aid is intended to help the 1.1m Palestinian refugees from Israel who live in Gaza.

Mr Halpin, 62, who worked at hospitals in Torquay and Exeter, said that recent bloodshed in Gaza had made him "even more determined" to succeed.

"We hope it is the first of many such voyages," he said.

He has asked the Foreign Office to clear the vessel's entry into the Israeli port of Ashdod, near the northern border of the Gaza Strip, and the aid's road passage through the checkpoint into Gaza.