JERUSALEM: The Israeli navy has given a Gaza-bound Libyan aid ship until midnight Tuesday to change course for Egypt, an activist on board told AFP, with the military confirming it was preparing to stop the vessel.
"Israeli authorities have given us until midnight tonight (2100 GMT) to change course and head to the port of El-Arish, otherwise they are threatening to intercept the boat with their navy," Mashallah Zwei told AFP by satellite phone.
Zwei, a member of the Qaddafi Foundation charity which organized the shipment, said the crew had informed the navy it would study the request before responding.
The military refused to confirm or deny it had given the ship an ultimatum although a spokesman said that preparations were under way to stop the vessel from reaching the Gaza Strip.
"The navy has begun preparations for stopping the ship, should it attempt to violate the naval blockade," he told AFP. "We are now making contact with them."
Fears of a new and potentially deadly standoff came exactly six weeks after Israeli commandos launched a pre-dawn operation to prevent a flotilla of aid ships from breaching its naval blockade on Gaza.
In the resulting fracas, nine Turks, including a dual US national, were shot dead and dozens of other people injured, including nine Israeli commandos.
Zwei said the navy had "threatened to send their warships to intercept the boat and escort it toward the (southern Israeli) port of Ashdod if we do not change course.
"We explained to the Israeli authorities that our original destination was Gaza and that we are not here for a provocation," he said.
"We also specified that we are transporting only foodstuffs and medicines and we asked them to let us discharge our cargo in Gaza."
The 92-meter (302-foot) freighter left a Greek port on Saturday and was expected to arrive off Gaza’s territorial waters on Wednesday, said the group behind the mission, a charity run by Seif al-Islam, son of Libyan leader Moamer Qaddafi.
The latest standoff came a day after the Israeli military published the results of an internal inquiry into the May 31 raid, which found that while mistakes had been made, the troops’ use of live fire during the operation was "justified."
The report also made a point of saying that no country in the world had ever managed "to stop a vessel at sea in a non-hostile manner."
Over the last week, Israel has made a flurry of diplomatic efforts to try and convince the boat, named the Amalthea, to change course and deliver its cargo of 2,000 tons of foodstuffs and medicine to El-Arish.
In Cairo, an Egyptian official confirmed the authorities had received a request for the Libyan ship to dock in El-Arish, near Egypt’s border with Gaza, but did not specify the origin of the request.
On Monday, Egypt’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said the boat was welcome to dock at El-Arish if the organizers made a formula request and then aid would be transported overland to Gaza.
On Monday, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton expressed concern about the looming standoff and urged both parties to avoid any "unnecessary confrontations."
"I am concerned about reports of further ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. I would like to call on all of those involved to exercise calm and restraint at this particular juncture," a statement from her office said.
"An escalation of tensions and unnecessary confrontations should be avoided."
Global pressure over the May 31 debacle has since forced Israel to significantly change its policy on Gaza, and now it only prevents the import of arms and goods that it says could be used to build weapons or fortifications.
Libya’s official news agency JANA on Monday said a convoy of 20 trucks would set off for Gaza next week, loaded with food, medicine and school equipment.
