ISRAEL STEPS UP BID TO BLOCK AID SHIP BOUND FOR GAZA
Baku, July 10 (AZERTAC). Israel has stepped up its attempts to stop an aid ship breaking its blockade of Gaza, sending a letter to the UN and engaging Greece and Moldova in talks.
The Moldovan-flagged ship, Amalthea, chartered by a charity run by the son of Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi, was due to leave the Greek port of Lavrio on Saturday.
Israel said it now believed the ship would not reach Gaza.
An Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship in May killed nine Turkish activists.
Israel insisted its troops were defending themselves but the raid sparked international condemnation. Israel recently eased its blockade, allowing in almost all consumer goods but maintaining a “blacklist” of some items.
Israel says its blockade of the Palestinian territory is needed to prevent the supply of weapons to the Hamas militant group which controls Gaza.
Israel has been engaged in intense diplomatic activity to prevent the Amalthea, renamed Hope for the mission, reaching Gaza.
A foreign ministry statement said that Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had spoken with his Greek and Moldovan counterparts on the issue.
The statement said: “The foreign ministry believes that due to these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza.”
Ministry officials quoted by the Israeli news source Haaretz said that if the ship did sail it would travel instead to the Egyptian port of el-Arish.
Israel also lobbied the UN to take action.
Other news in this section
