Palestinian women hold candles during a vigil protesting the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
JERUSALEM Israeli naval vessels intercepted a Libyan
ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza on Monday, Palestinian and
Israeli officials said.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said the ship was stopped and ordered to
turn back because it was not authorized to dock in the Palestinian
territory of Gaza which is under an Israeli blockade. After receiving the message by radio contact, the Libyan ship turned back, a ministry spokesman said. Gaza lawmaker Jamal Khoudary said the ship returned to the Egyptian port town of Al-Arish near the Gaza border.
"This ship was carrying food and medicine and was coming to assist the
Palestinian people in Gaza, where they live under siege," Khoudary said. Israel
maintains that rocket attacks and security threats from militant groups
in Gaza forced it to close its border crossings with Gaza. The blockade
also applies to ships coming into Gaza. Israel controls the waters off
the coast of the Palestinian territory.
Human rights groups have expressed concern about the Israeli
blockade on Gaza, which has restricted the delivery of emergency aid
and fuel supplies. The United Nations' Relief and Works Agency
successfully delivered 12 trucks of aid through the Kerem Shalom border
crossing last week. The U.N. has launched a
humanitarian appeal for Gaza because of what the regional U.N.
humanitarian coordinator Maxwell Gaylard called "an assault on human
dignity."
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