GAZA CITY: convoy of ships containing pro-Palestinian activists and aid destined for the blockaded Gaza Strip on Sunday prepared to steam south from Cyprus towards Israeli naval vessels determined to stop them.
The ships, carrying more than 700 passengers, are readying for the last leg of a high-profile mission to deliver tonnes of aid to Gaza, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.
With the long-delayed flotilla expected to arrive at some stage over the next 24 hours, Gaza fishermen took to the sea flying Palestinian flags as well as those of Greece, Ireland, Sweden and Turkey — all of which sent boats.
Israel has slammed as "illegal" the convoy’s attempt to break its blockade on Gaza, and has naval forces at the ready to intercept the ships and detain the pro-Palestinian activists on board.
"I am asking the international community to protect these boats from the Israeli threat," independent Palestinian MP Jamal Al-Khudari said during a news conference on a boat anchored just outside the Gaza port.
"If Israel blocks them, they have a strategy for getting here," added Khudari, who heads the Gaza-based Committee to Lift the Siege, without giving anything more away.
As tensions mounted, several Israeli warships could be seen off the Gaza coast, an AFP photographer said.
Khudari said the convoy, which is carrying hundreds of civilians and a handful of European MPs, would stop outside Gaza territorial waters before attempting to make landfall.
It will travel "in two stages," he said: "First they will stop in international waters at 30 nautical miles (from Gaza), and tomorrow (Monday) they will reach the shore."
Israel has said it will intercept the vessels and detain the activists in the Israeli port of Ashdod before deporting them.
Palestinian demonstrators are also planning to release scores of balloons with pictures tied to them of children who were killed during Israel’s huge 22-day offensive against Gaza which ended in January last year.
Meanwhile, the actual whereabouts of the so-called "Freedom Flotilla" remained unclear after it grouped in international waters off Cyprus, ahead of the final leg of its journey to Gaza.
Audrey Bomse, legal adviser to the Free Gaza Movement that organised the flotilla, earlier told AFP the convoy had set sail at 5:00 am (0200 GMT) and that it was expected to reach Gaza territorial waters some time after 4:00 pm (1300 GMT).
But the group’s Greta Berlin later said the ships had moved just 25 nautical miles, in what was believed to be a tactical move.
"We looked at the little blue bubble this morning and saw that it had moved 25 nautical miles, so we thought they had set off," she told AFP, referring to the flotilla’s website http://witnessgaza.com which marks its position with a blue arrow.
"But nobody was answering because their satellite are blocked," she said, implying that Israel was behind the move. "We have only just got hold of them via radio phone." AFP was also unable to reach any of the activists on board.
Berlin said the convoy had apparently taken a strategic decision to change position because it was "dangerous to stay in the same place."
"They are currently meeting to decide when they are leaving. They don’t want to come near Israel at night," she said, suggesting the convoy was unlikely to try to enter Gaza territorial waters until daylight on Monday.
Berlin said the Challenger 1, one of two boats damaged over the weekend in what organizers claim was "sabotage", had been repaired and joined the convoy early on Sunday, taking the flotilla’s number to six.
The second damaged boat was docked in the southern Cyprus port of Limassol awaiting repair, she said.
The Free Gaza Movement is considering "a second wave" of boats later this week, which would include the damaged boat now undergoing repairs and the Rachel Corrie cargo ship, which is still en route to the eastern Mediterranean.
"We’re going to see how the others get on — either they will reach Gaza or Israel will stop them and there will be a confrontation," Bomse added.
The flotilla of cargo and passenger ships, which is carrying 10,000 tons of aid, had originally been due to reach the besieged Gaza Strip on Saturday.
But its departure was delayed because of technical problems.
Israel has made clear its intention to block the convoy.
"This is a provocation intended to delegitimize Israel," deputy foreign minister Danny Ayalon said late on Saturday.
"If the flotilla had a genuine humanitarian goal, then its organizers should have transferred something for the abducted soldier Gilad Shalit as well," he said of the Israeli snatched by militants in 2006 and held by the Hamas Islamist movement which runs the enclave.
Hamas’ refusal to release him is cited by Israel as one of the main reasons for imposing the economic blockade on Gaza in 2007
"Their refusal to do so clearly indicates that humanitarian issues were not their goal. We will not allow the flotilla to enter Gaza, as this is an infringement of Israel’s sovereignty," Ayalon said.
Pro-Palestinian activists have landed in Gaza five times, with another three unsuccessful attempts since their first such voyage in August 2008. The latest is their biggest operation.
