An Irish ship has dropped out of the pro-Palestinian flotilla planning to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, citing sabotage, and a US ship declared it may set sail from a Greek port for Gaza without permission, activists said.

Israeli warships attacked at least one of the six ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid for blockaded Gaza today, killing at least ten and wounding an unknown number of people on board, reports said.

HUNDREDS of pro-Palestinian activists yesterday set sail for the Gaza Strip from international waters off the coast of Cyprus, edging closer to an expected naval showdown with Israeli gunships determined to stop them.