Activist boats allowed into Gaza despite Israeli blockade

“They wanted provocation at sea but they won’t get it. We know who the passengers are and what they are bringing with them and so we have no problem letting them through,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron told AFP. Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, a Jerusalem-based spokeswoman for the so-called Free Gaza Movement which organised the event, said the boats’ communications systems had been attacked by “electronic piracy” earlier in the day.

“We are not experienced sailors. As a result, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board (should) an emergency develop,” the crew said in a message, according to Godfrey-Goldstein.

An attempt by a third boat carrying reporters from the Israeli port of Ashdod to meet the two vessels failed because of communications problems, Godfrey-Goldstein said.

The two converted fishing boats set sail under Greek flags from Cyprus on Friday morning carrying the activists determined to break an Israeli embargo that was tightened when Hamas seized power in Gaza in June 2007.

Since then Israel has sealed the territory off from all but vital humanitarian aid in a bid to put pressure on Palestinian militants, who have fired hundreds of rockets at southern Israel in the past year.