Israel says UN to deliver goods seized from raided flotilla to Gaza

Israel: UN to take seized flotilla goods to Gaza

JERUSALEM — The United Nations will take to Gaza tons of aid supplies languishing in an Israeli port for two weeks since they were seized in a bloody sea confrontation, the Israeli military said Tuesday.

Robert Serry, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, told the U.N. Security Council in New York that Israel agreed to release the cargo “on the understanding that it is for the United Nations to determine its appropriate humanitarian use in Gaza.”

The military said the aid, taken from a six-ship Gaza-bound flotilla, would fill 70 trucks.

Up to now, the Hamas rulers of Gaza have refused to accept the aid as a protest against Israel’s three-year blockade of the territory. Hamas had no comment on the arrangement, under which the U.N. would take charge of seeing that the aid would be used in authorized humanitarian projects.

The Israeli military statement noted that Israel offered to let the flotilla land at an Israeli port, and then transfer the aid overland to Gaza after inspection, but flotilla organizers refused.

The May 31 raid on the flotilla, when Israeli commandos clashed with pro-Palestinian activists and killed nine, has focused world attention on the blockade and its dire effects on Gaza’s 1.5 million people. Israel has been under intense international pressure to ease or lift the embargo since the clash.

With Egypt’s cooperation, Israel has blockaded Gaza by land and sea since Hamas overran Gaza three years ago. The embargo has allowed in little more than food, medicine and basic humanitarian goods, causing Gaza’s already depressed economy to grind to a standstill. The embargo was meant to keep out weapons that would be turned on Israel, weaken the Hamas government and pressure militants to release an Israeli soldier who has been held for four years.

It bans building supplies like concrete from entering Gaza, on the ground that Hamas could use such materials to build fortifications.

Israel’s top-level Security Cabinet was set to meet Wednesday to discuss easing the blockade, senior officials said. There was no word about whether decisions were expected. One proposal said to be on the table is to scrap Israel’s list of permitted items and replace it with a list of goods Israel bans — allowing all other products in.

In a typical week, Israel transfers about 500 truckloads of supplies to Gaza, plus 250,000 gallons of fuel for Gaza’s electric power station, according to military figures.

U.N. spokesman Richard Miron said from Jerusalem that under the agreement, all the cargo from the flotilla would be sent to Gaza. He could not say whether that included items banned by Israel, including cement, but that if such items do make up part of the goods, “the U.N. will determine how and where it is used.”

Neither side said when the supplies would be taken to Gaza.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has joined a chorus of demands to lift the blockade, saying Monday that the blockade constitutes “collective punishment” in violation of international law. Although the Red Cross has repeatedly condemned the blockade, it was the first time it has explicitly declared it illegal.

A key Israeli security chief warned Tuesday that lifting Israel’s naval blockade would endanger Israel. Shin Bet internal security chief Yuval Diskin told a parliamentary committee that Hamas already has 5,000 rockets, most of them homemade. Others have been smuggled into Gaza and could strike deep inside Israel, he said.

Diskin told the parliamentary committee that Israel’s security wouldn’t be compromised if it were to let more goods into the territory through Israeli-controlled land crossings, according to a participant, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the meeting was closed.

On Monday, Israel approved an inquiry to look into the legal aspects of the blockade, Israel’s actions and the background of the activists on board the flotilla. The appointment received some support from the U.S. and U.N., but the Palestinians and Turkey rejected it as inadequate. Amnesty International criticized it as lacking transparency and unlikely to ensure accountability

Israeli critics also complained that the inquiry would not look into the decision-making process that resulted in a deadly raid, seen as a propaganda victory for Hamas. On Tuesday, Israel’s state comptroller, a government watchdog, said he would look into that.

The Gaza-bound flotilla — unofficially supported by the Turkish government — has been a boost to Turkey’s popularity among Palestinians, according to a poll released Tuesday by the West Bank-based Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research.

Asked which regional country is most supportive of the Palestinians, 43 percent cited Turkey, with Egypt a distant second at 13 percent. Iran got 6 percent, followed by Saudi Arabia and Syria with 5 percent each, according to the poll, which surveyed 1,270 people and quoted an error margin of 3 percentage points.

>—–

AP correspondent Edith M. Lederer reported from the United Nations.