Israeli police on Sunday blocked an attempt by Israeli Arabs to sail a boat from Israel to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with a cargo of food and medical supplies. Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip has been stepped up in recent weeks amid a surge of violence along its frontier with the Palestinian territory. An Islamic group in Israel comprised mainly of Arab citizens of the Jewish state organized what was to have been the first voyage of a boat from Israel to the Gaza Strip with humanitarian supplies. But police instructed the boat's owner not to set off for Gaza.
