A Libyan-chartered ship carrying humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip entered Egyptian waters on Wednesday after it was intercepted by the Israeli navy, an Israeli military source told RIA Novosti.
The 92-metre Al-Amal ("Hope" in Arabic) cargo ship left the Greek port of Lavrio on July 10 on a mission to bring aid to Gaza, despite Israeli warnings not to approach the Palestinian territory.
"The vessel was drifting in the open sea all night, and in the morning it set sail for the Egyptian port of El-Arish," the source said.
The aid ship was sponsored by the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation (GICDF), headed by the son of the Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi. The vessel is carrying about 2,000 tons of aid and 27 activists and crew.
On May 31, the Israeli military stormed Gaza-bound ships carrying some 10,000 tons of aid to the enclave, which has been under an Israeli blockade for the past three years, in neutral waters in the Mediterranean Sea.
The operation claimed the lives of at least 9 activists, eight of them Turkish nationals.
TEL AVIV, July 14 (RIA Novosti)
