Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — A group of grassroots activists from Egypt, Libya, Algeria, and Morocco has launched a symbolic yet heartfelt initiative called A Bottle of Hope to deliver food aid to Gaza as the territory grapples with extreme hunger amid ongoing Israeli bombardment.
The initiative involves sending plastic bottles filled with food across the Mediterranean Sea, in hopes they will reach the besieged Gaza Strip. Volunteers fill 1- to 2-liter plastic bottles with rice, lentils, and dried beans, seal them tightly, and cast them into the sea from various Mediterranean coastlines.
Backers of the initiative say they are placing their hopes and prayers in ocean currents to carry the bottles past Israel’s maritime blockade and into the hands of desperate civilians along Gaza’s shores.
Inspired by the classic concept of a “message in a bottle,” the campaign has quickly resonated across social media, gaining traction as a powerful symbol of hope and solidarity in the face of what many describe as helplessness.
According to Turkiye Today, the campaign has been dubbed by online supporters as “a symbolic cry against the blockade”, a moral gesture to remind Gazans they are not alone in their suffering.
“I’m sorry, my brothers and sisters, we can’t do much,” one Egyptian man says in a viral video, gently tossing a bottle filled with flour and rice into the sea. “Maybe this bottle will save your life or be your savior on Judgment Day,” he says quietly, his voice heavy with emotion.
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Behind the deeply symbolic act, the initiative is also developed in a more scientific approach led by Mohamed Sayed Ali Hassan, an Egyptian academic and engineer currently based in Japan. According to CNN Indonesia, Hassan has developed a method using 25-liter plastic containers to deliver more substantial food aid by sea.
According to Hassan, each container can carry between six and eight kilograms of food staples, with around eight liters of air left inside to ensure buoyancy during the journey.
While the method faces steep logistical and political challenges, the initiative underscores a growing desperation across the region to reach and deliver food aid to Gaza as it is being cut off from conventional humanitarian aid routes , and a refusal to stay silent in the face of starvation and suffering.
(Raidi/Agung)
