Aid ship Hope sets sail for Gaza Israel threatens more piracy and violence

The 2,000 ton ship - the Amalthea, now renamed Hope for the voyage to Gaza - we reported on last week that would be going to Gaza, is not in fact joining the flotilla in September but is making its own way to Gaza now. Israel has threatened to stop the vessel reaching Gaza. Israel says it will not allow its sovereignty to be harmed. So since when was Gaza part of Israel?

Israel warned yesterday that a ship sponsored by a group headed by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and currently crossing the Mediterranean would not be allowed to reach its stated destination of Gaza.

The Moldovan-registered ship – renamed Hope for the voyage – left Greece on Saturday night for a trip intended to take between 70 and 80 hours. The organisers, the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, say the ship, with a crew of 12 and ten passengers on board, is carrying 2,000 tonnes of food and medicine.

Israel's defence minister, Ehud Barak, has described the dispatch of the vessel as a "provocation" and its foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, told Army Radio yesterday: "I say very clearly, no ship will arrive in Gaza. We will not permit our sovereignty to be harmed."more

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