The Israeli navy seized an international pro-Palestinian activist ship in the Mediterranean sea on Saturday to prevent it breaching its blockade of the Gaza Strip, a military spokeswoman said.
She said no one was hurt when marines boarded the SV Estelle, a three-mast schooner, and that it was rerouted to Israel's southern port of Ashdod after it ignored orders to turn away from the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave.
The Estelle was carrying 30 activists from Europe, Canada and Israel, humanitarian cargo such as cement, and goodwill items such as children's books, a mission spokesman said earlier on Saturday . . .(More details here.)
On track record of recent years, the cargo will be inspected and non contraband items will be passed on to Gaza by truck. The Hamas regime may -- as it has done in the past -- refuse to receive such.
On background, Gaza is under an international blockade because Hamas is an internationally marked terrorist organisation; one whose charter article 7 embeds religiously motivated genocide of Jews. (cf. here for more details.)
In case some may think this is not a current motivating force among Palestinian Arabs (and many other radical Muslims), kindly observe the following video excerpt from Palestine Media Watch, from the allegedly more "moderate" Fatah -- this word I gather means conquest -- movement. The Gharqad Tree hadith -- oral tradition of Mohammed collected by major Muslim figures and often viewed as binding on Muslims once deemed authentic -- in the Hamas Charter is cited:
PMW translated transcript:
PA Mufti Muhammad Hussein comes to the podium and says:
"47 years ago the [Fatah] revolution started. Which revolution? The modern revolution of the Palestinian people's history. In fact, Palestine in its entirety is a revolution, since [Caliph] Umar came [to conquer Jerusalem, 637 CE], and continuing today, and until the End of Days. The reliable Hadith (tradition attributed to Muhammad), [found] in the two reliable collections, Bukhari and Muslim, says:
We have been forewarned. Are we willing to be forearmed? END"The Hour [of Resurrection] will not come until you fight the Jews.Therefore it is no wonder that you see Gharqad [trees]
The Jew will hide behind stones or trees.
Then the stones or trees will call:
'Oh Muslim, servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.'
Except the Gharqad tree [which will keep silent]."
surrounding the [Israeli] settlements and colonies..."
