London, May 28: The UN has called on Tel Aviv to “act with a sense of care” in dealing with pro-Palestinian activists who aim to break a three-year Israeli-imposed blockade on Gaza.
The appeal came after Israel threatened to divert an aid-laden flotilla of nine ships to its southern port of Ashdod and detain the activists onboard.
The ‘Freedom Flotilla’ carries some 10,000 tons of supplies to the 1.5 million deprived Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip under harsh conditions.
“We strongly urge that all involved act with a sense of care and responsibility and work for a satisfactory resolution,” UN spokesman Martin Nesirky said on Thursday.
Nesirky added that the UN is against “the closure of Gaza and our concern at the insufficient flow of material through legitimate crossing points to meet basic needs, begin reconstruction, and revive economic life.”
He urged Israel “to facilitate a greater range and quantity of traffic through legitimate crossings to meet urgent needs in Gaza.”
Israel vowed it would not allow the ships to reach the Gaza Strip, calling the blockade-busting move a “cheap political stunt.”
Tel Aviv has summoned the ambassadors of Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Sweden and Ireland and warned them that it had “issued warrants that prohibit the entrance of the vessels to Gaza.”
Volunteers from these five countries and 45 other states are aboard the Gaza-bound ships.
Israel imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip with the help of Egypt in June 2007. The siege even prevents entry of goods into the Palestinian coastal enclave through the Rafah border crossing — Gaza’s only border crossing that bypasses Israel.
———Agencies