JERUSALEM: Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday warned Lebanon it would be responsible for any "violent and dangerous confrontation" with an activist aid flotilla expected to set sail for Gaza.
"I say clearly to the government of Lebanon: You are responsible for the boats leaving your ports, which have the clear and stated intention of trying to break the naval blockade on Gaza," he said in a statement.
"The Lebanese government … is responsible for preventing the loading of weapons, ammunition, explosive materials and other things of that nature which could lead to a violent and dangerous confrontation if the ship refuses to come to Ashdod," he added, referring to an Israeli port.
A group of dozens of Lebanese women activists said earlier this week they would set sail for Gaza with an aid ship loaded with medical supplies in the latest bid to break Israel’s four-year blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.
Israeli officials had warned that the navy would not allow the boat to pass or for Lebanon’s Iranian-backed group Hezbollah to use it to transport arms.
The women insisted, however, that they were not affiliated with Hezbollah or any other political organization, and said the ship would carry 30 Lebanese activists as well as 20 foreigners, including several Europeans.
They did not give an exact date for the departure of the ship.
The trip comes as Israel faces an international backlash over its deadly May 31 seizure of a six-ship aid fleet bound for Gaza, in which nine Turkish activists were shot dead by naval commandos in clashes on one of the boats.
Tensions with Lebanon have run high since Israel’s devastating 2006 war with Hezbollah, which killed some 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and around 160 Israelis, most of them soldiers.
Last year, a Lebanese freighter which tried to deliver aid to Gaza in defiance of the blockade was intercepted at sea by the Israeli navy.
