Israel stops Lebanese Gaza aid ship

by David Buimovitch

ASHDOD, Israel (AFP) – A Lebanese freighter that tried to deliver aid to Gaza in defiance of a blockade docked in the Israeli port of Ashdod under navy escort on Thursday after being intercepted at sea.

The boat was towed into the commercial port, surrounded by Israeli naval vessels before being steered to a military dock.

Israeli forces intercepted the Togolese-flagged "Tali" as it tried to enter Gaza's territorial waters, the military said.

"While at sea, the cargo boat was contacted by Israel, clarifying that it will not be permitted to enter Gazan coastal waters because of security risks in the area and the existing naval blockade," the statement said.

The crew stated it would sail to the Egyptian port of Al-Arish, but eventually tried to slip into Gaza, the military said.

It said the crew would be questioned by police and any humanitarian goods aboard the vessel taken to Gaza.

One of the organizers of the shipment claimed the navy had fired on the boat, an allegation denied by Israel.

"We were informed by the crew that Israeli forces boarded the ship after firing shots at it," Maen Bashur told AFP.

In response, a military statement said "no gunshots were fired on board during the boarding and capture of the cargo boat."

Bashur confirmed that the freighter had tried to reach Gaza through Egyptian territorial waters despite being warned off by Israel earlier.

The Hamas rulers of Gaza accused Israel of "piracy."

"The Palestinian government strongly condemns the act of piracy undertaken by the Israeli occupation in abducting the ship of our Lebanese brothers," said Taher al-Nunu, a spokesman for the Islamist administration in Gaza.

"The government considers this aggressive Israeli behavior to be a tightening of the unjust blockade," he said.

Among the eight people on board the "Brotherhood Ship" was the former Greek Catholic archbishop of Jerusalem, Monsignor Hilarion Capucci, who left Jerusalem in the 1970s after serving time in an Israeli jail for membership in the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The Tali had earlier stopped over at the nearby Mediterranean island of Cyprus where authorities inspected the cargo before continuing its voyage towards Gaza.

An Israeli military spokesman said that by entering Gazan waters, the crew "raised suspicion, as it could threaten security concerns, or furthermore, the boat could be used for smuggling banned equipment (weaponry, etc.) into or out of the Gaza Strip."

He stressed that "any organization or country that wishes to transfer humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, can do so via the established crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip with prior coordination."

Following the devastating 22-day military offensive that ended on January 18, humanitarian agencies have stepped up calls for a lifting of the blockade Israel imposed on Gaza after Hamas seized power in the Palestinian enclave 18 months ago.