New Zealanders in Gaza convoy risking lives

New Zealand volunteers hoping to take part in a Gaza aid convoy have been told by their group's organisers they could be putting their lives at risk.

The group Kia Ora Gaza will be sending a Kiwi team to join international sea and land convoys which will leave for Gaza on September 18 hoping to break an Israeli blockade.

Co-organiser Grant Morgan said the group had so far received 18 volunteers who had been told they would be putting themselves at risk if they are chosen to go.

"We have stressed this all the way along with our volunteers," he said.

The dangers the volunteers will face was shown when nine aid workers were shot dead by Israeli forces when a Turkish aid flotilla attempting to break the blockade was intercepted off the shores of Gaza in May.

The New Zealanders who take part in the land convoy also face dangers, with volunteers in a previous convoy being attacked by Egyptian police before reaching the border with Gaza, Mr Morgan said.

The fact the volunteers still wanted to take part in the convoys showed they had a lot of courage, he said.

"I can only take my hat off to these courageous Kiwis who are prepared to put themselves in harms way... to go to the other side of the world to help people they have never met before," Mr Morgan said.

New Zealand support for the people of Gaza stemmed from a desire for social justice which could be seen in the past with our anti-apartheid and anti-nuclear movements, Mr Morgan said.

The numbers of New Zealand volunteers to join the convoy will depend on how much money is raised over the next 10 weeks in a $100,000 fund-raising drive, he said.

So far they had raised about a quarter of their target, Mr Morgan said.

Three land convoys will leave from London, North Africa and Doha and are coordinated by English aid organisation Viva Palestina. The sea convoy departing from London will be co-ordinated by Turkish humanitarian relief foundation IHH.

- NZPA