Amanah international bureau chief Raja Bahrin Shah has cautioned that we should not wait for another tragedy to happen in Gaza before the world starts to pay attention to the war-torn Palestinian territory again.

This comes after activists aboard the boat Zaytouna-Olivia, which was headed to Gaza on a humanitarian mission, were detained by Israeli forces yesterday.

"The rest of the world is just standing by watching and not doing much over the many similar incidences which had been inflicted by the Israelis on humanitarian groups trying to help the isolated Gaza people.

"Is the world waiting for another Mavi Marmara ship incident of May 2010, where nine peaceful activists were killed by Israel commandos before acting and voicing their concerns?

"What does it take to prick the conscience of the world on the plight of the long suffering Palestinians of Gaza?" Raja Bahrin said in a statement today.

Denying the activists, which included Malaysia's sole representative Fauziah Mohd Hassan, their right to help the Palestinian women and children in Gaza is a "very cruel act", he said.

It is even more baffling that this is being done by Israel, which has often quoted earlier atrocities and prosecutions against Jewish people in Europe during the Second World War, he added.

By denying rights and aid to the Palestinians, he said that Israel is inflicting the same suffering on the people of Gaza that they claimed their forefathers were subjected to.

The hardest hit victims in this situation, he said, are the women, children and the elderly.

The world has been distracted by the war atrocities in Syria and Yemen, he said, but we should not forget the suffering of the Palestinians either, who have been "refugees on their own land since the end of World War 2".

"In Syria, children have not seen or known basic needs and rights for quite sometime.

"In Palestine, the children and also even the elderly people in their lifetime have not had any basic needs and rights for over 60 years," he said.

The detention of the activists yesterday should be a wake-up call towards Israel's "continued cruelty" against the Palestinians, he said.

"Why can't we just raise a little bit of our voice on the Palestinian issue from the comforts and security of our homes?" he questioned.

Fauziah and the other delegates participated in the mission dubbed 'Women's Boat to Gaza' (WBG) to challenge the Israeli blockade on Gaza after the land routes to the strip were blocked by Israel and Egypt.

The other delegates were from Tunisia, Israel, Algeria, Canada, Turkey, United States, Sweden, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, to symbolise universal solidarity with the people of Palestine.