Israeli naval vessels intercept a Libyan aid ship

Monday December 01, 2008 13:33 by Rami Almeghari - IMEMC & Agencies

On Monday, Israeli naval vessels intercepted a Libyan aid ship, en-route to the besieged Gaza Strip, after sailing from a Libyan port one week ago.

Gaza Sea

Lawmaker and head of the local popular committee to break the Israeli siege on Gaza, Jamal Alkhudari, stated this morning in a press conference at the Gaza sea port that the Israeli naval boats turned the ship back. " [T]he ship is now in the territorial waters of the nearby Egyptian sea town of Al-Arish, while coordination is underway to ensure delivery of the aid to Gaza via the border crossing of Rafah on Gaza-Egypt border lines".

Alkhudari decried the Israeli measure 'in a time Gaza is starving because of the restrictive Israeli blockade in place for more than 19 months now'. He called on the Arab and Islamic nations to intervene immediately to break the Gaza siege. Ahmad Alkurd, Minister of the Hamas-run social affairs ministry , who joined Alkhaudary's press conference, echoed the same appeal. Crowds of Gaza inhabitants and journalists gathered in the early hours of Monday morning to welcome Almarwa, a Libyan ship, loaded with humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza, estimated at 3,000 tons of food and medicines.

Libyan minister of health is said to be supervising the aid delivery. From his part, spokesman of the Israeli foreign ministry , Andy David, was quoted by the Israeli Online Daily Haaretz as saying " We have a very clear policy on the blockade , which is constantly publicized. The blockade is imposed to generate political pressure on Gaza's Islamist Hamas leadership, the blockade has been stepped up in recent weeks amid a surge in border clashes between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants".

For the past four months, Israel has allowed only three boats, loaded with internationals and humanitarian aid, into Gaza. These boats have been organized by the Free Gaza Movement, a congregation of international solidarity campaigners. Currently, there aren't any formal peaceful ties between Israel and Libya. Since coming to power in January 2006, the Islamist Hamas party has shunned peace talks with Israel until Israel halts attacks against the Palestinian people of Gaza. Israel has imposed a strict blockade on all Gaza border crossings since the Hamas take over of Gaza in June 2007.

gaza strip | miscellaneous | news report rami at imemc dot org