Israel turned Libyan aid ship to Gaza away
Written by Egypt News Tuesday, 02 December 2008

A
Libyan ship on its way to
Gaza with 3,000 tonnes of
humanitarian aid was Monday turned back by the
Israeli navy
The ship, carrying relief materials for inhabitants of the impoverished
Mediterranean strip of land is the biggest attempt to supply
Palestinians with materials since
Israel instituted an economic blockade on
Gaza over one year ago.
According to reports, the
Al Marwa vessel was approaching the
Gaza coastline when an
Israeli navy vessel intercepted it and ordered the
Libyan ship to turn around.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman
Yigal Palmor said in a statement that no force was used in the maritime incident.
Arab nations and international rights groups have called on
Israel to end the economic blockade of
Gaza that has left the 2.2 million
Palestinians in dire need of aid.
It is not clear whether the
Libyan vessel will return to the
North African nation; if unable to unload its cargo, it is most likely to return to
Libya, a senior
Libyan official said.
"The
Israeli warships are making it difficult for the ship to reach the
Gaza coast, in spite of the fact that this is a civilian ship sent to help
Palestinians during the siege," the official said in press reports.
Gaza's borders have been almost continuously sealed by
Israel and
Egypt since the
Islamic militant Hamas group seized control by force in June 2007.
Cairo has opened the border on occasions to allow those individuals needing medical attention to enter
Sinai.
EGYPT NEWS