Jerusalem, July 11: Israel will not allow an aid ship sent by a Libyan group to reach Gaza, the foreign minister, Mr Avigdor Lieberman, said on Sunday. “I say very clearly, no ship will arrive in Gaza. We will not permit our sovereignty to be harmed,” Mr Lieberman said on Army Radio, referring to Israel’s naval blockade of the Palestinian territory controlled by Hamas Islamists.
The Moldovan-flagged Amalthea, renamed Hope, left Greece on Saturday, bound for Gaza on a trip organised by a charity chaired by the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Mr Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The group said the ship was carrying some 2,000 tons of food and medicine and complied with international rules.
Organisers said the vessel, with 12 crew and up to 10 activists on board, would head for Gaza but go to Egypt’s port of El-Arish instead if banned from reaching its destination in a voyage expected to take between 70 and 80 hours.
“I hope very much that common sense will prevail and the ship will go to El-Arish, or that it will obey the Israel defence forces and eventually go to (Israel’s port of) Ashdod,” Mr Lieberman said.