Israel says it will block a fleet of nine ships carrying international activists and supplies from reaching the Gaza Strip.
The “Freedom Flotilla,” organized by the Free Gaza group, left from ports in Ireland, Greece and Turkey last week and was scheduled to arrive off the coast of Gaza at the end of this week.
Israel offered to transfer the humanitarian aid, including food, clothing and construction materials, to Gaza through an approved Israeli port.
“Ships forcing their way into Gaza will do nothing to aid the people there,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said in a statement. “Existing land crossings are more than capable of meeting their needs. International aid organizations and the private sector of Gaza ensure that all the necessary food, medicine and clothing are provided to the Strip via Israel.”
Palmor said the flotilla organizers “are less interested in bringing in aid than in promoting their radical agenda, playing into the hands of Hamas provocations. While they have wrapped themselves in a humanitarian cloak, they are engaging in political propaganda and not in pro-Palestinian aid.” — jta