Israel blocks aid for Gaza

THE Israeli navy ordered a small ferry carrying medical supplies and foreign peace activists to Gaza to turn back, a spokesman for the group said yesterday.

The Israeli military refused to comment. There are also reports that all passengers and crew, including two from Ireland were arreste.

The voyage’s organisers, the Free Gaza Movement, said the vessel, the Spirit of Humanity, left the Cypriot port of Larnaca on Monday with three tons of medical supplies.

There were two Irish among the 20 people onboard, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairéad Corrigan Maguire and activist Derek Graham.

“There is a patrol boat around us and we were told that if we did not turn back they would open fire,” the group’s website quoted Graham as saying by satellite telephone.

The UN in Gaza has said Israel is refusing to release any aid to people there.