Activist boats arrive in Gaza despite Israeli blockade
The boats set sail on Friday from the Mediterranean island carrying activists from 17 countries, including Israel, determined to draw attention to the blockade of Gaza where the Islamist Hamas movement has ruled since June 2007.
The boats sailed through choppy grey waters and into Gaza City's main port, where they were greeted by thousands of people waving Palestinian flags, many of them motoring around the harbour in boats.
Crowds along the shore chanted "God is Great!" and "No, no, to the Siege!" as dozens of young men dove into the murky harbour and swam towards the flag-decked boats.
"This is a great victory in breaking the siege and the beginning of what we hope will be more and more boats," said Riad al-Faraj, the Gaza-based head of the International Committee to Break the Siege, which helped organise the trip.
Islam Shahwan, a spokesman for Gaza's Hamas-run security forces, said 500 policemen had been deployed to protect the activists.
"We will provide protection to them and will take them to visit Al-Shifa hospital and other parts of Gaza City," he said.
The activists appeared tired from the voyage and at least two were taken to Al-Shifa hospital for treatment for exhaustion, but all of them said they were happy to be in the impoverished territory of 1.5 million people.
"I am very happy to have arrived in Gaza," Edith Lutz, a 59-year-old activist from Germany said. "We came to help the Palestinian people in Gaza to lift the siege."
Israel had initially warned the activists to stay away from Gaza's coastal waters, saying the voyage would support "the regime of a terror organisation," but in the end allowed them to pass through without incident.
"They wanted provocation at sea but they won't get it. We know who the passengers are and what they are bringing with them and so we have no problem letting them through," foreign ministry spokesman Aviv Shiron told AFP.
Angela Godfrey-Goldstein, a Jerusalem-based spokeswoman for the so-called Free Gaza Movement which organised the event, said the boats' communications systems had been attacked by "electronic piracy" earlier in the day.
"We are not experienced sailors. As a result, there is concern about the health and safety of the people on board (should) an emergency develop," the crew said in a message relayed by Godfrey-Goldstein.
An attempt by a third boat carrying reporters from the Israeli port of Ashdod to meet the two vessels failed because of the communications problems, Godfrey-Goldstein said.
Earlier in the day around 20 Gaza fishing boats flying Palestinian flags had left Gaza City's main port in a bid to welcome the two blockade runners, but were turned back when Israeli gunships in the distance fired warning shots.
Back at the port hundreds of people had gathered to await the arrival of the two converted fishing boats, waving flags as a local band performed.
Israel has tightened its blockade of Gaza since Hamas seized power in June 2007, sealing the territory off from all but vital humanitarian aid in a bid to put pressure on Palestinian militants who have fired hundreds of rockets at southern Israel in the past year.
Abubakr Nofal, a senior Hamas member, said the voyage was a "strong message to the Arab people and to Arab leaders" and called on them to pressure the United States and Israel to lift the blockade of the territory.
The boats, Liberty and Free Gaza, had embarked on the 370-kilometre (230-mile) voyage from the Larnaca port on Cyprus's south coast and carried 200 hearing aids for Gaza children and 5,000 balloons.
The activists were between 22 and 81, organisers said, and among them were students, lawyers, doctors, journalists and an online poker player.
Mostly American and British, they include Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former British premier Tony Blair who is now an international Middle East peace envoy.
Many of the activists said they had received death threats before they set sail, and some demonstrators dropped out.