Israeli Navy seizes Gaza-bound aid ship (Second lead)

TEL AVIV - The Israeli Navy boarded and seized a ship bound for the Gaza Strip Saturday, a military spokeswoman said.

“The ship was boarded with the full compliance of the crew. There were no casualties,” she said.

Israeli ships had been shadowing the ‘Rachel Corrie’ since early morning, after the vessel refused four requests to change course and head for the Israeli port of Ashdod instead of for the Gaza Strip, which is under an Israeli naval blockade.

The Israeli Navy made contact Saturday morning with the ship warning it might have to be boarded if it refused to change course for Ashdod.

The spokeswoman said that the Rachel Corrie had refused four requests to head for Ashdod, about 30 km north of the Strip.

“This is the Israeli Navy. You are approaching an area of hostilities which is under a naval blockade. The Gaza area, coastal region and Gaza Harbour are closed to all maritime traffic,” was the message radioed by the Israeli Navy to the Rachel Corrie.

“The Israeli government supports delivery of humanitarian supplies to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip and invites you to enter the Ashdod port,” it continued.

“Delivery of the supplies in accordance with the authorities’ regulations will be done via the formal land crossings and under your observation, after which you can return to your home ports aboard the vessels on which you arrived,” the message said.

A spokeswoman for the organisers said three Israeli vessels began shadowing the Rachel Corrie about several kilometres offshore.

The activists on board have reportedly rejected a plan brokered by Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin to dock at Ashdod port where the aid goods would be unloaded and inspected before being transferred to the salient.

They insisted on sailing only to Gaza.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said Friday it would not allow the “Rachel Corrie to break its naval blockade of the coastal enclave run by the radical Islamist Hamas movement”.

“Gaza is still a war zone because of Hamas and there still is a blockade,” spokesman Yigal Palmor told DPA.

A Gaza-bound aid flotilla with more than 700 international activists was forcefully intercepted by Israeli troops Monday. Nine activists were shot dead and dozens of others were wounded when the pre-dawn interception turned violent.

Israel placed the Gaza Strip under siege in June 2006, after a Palestinian militia launched a cross-border raid and captured an Israeli soldier, who is still being held captive in the salient.

The siege was tightened a year later, when Hamas, which rejects Israel’s right to exist, seized control of the Strip after routing security personnel loyal to the Palestinian Authority and President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.