Israel Sunday vowed to prevent a Libyan aid ship from running the Gaza blockade after it appeared to be heading for the besieged enclave despite a flurry of diplomatic efforts to divert it to Egypt. “Israel will not let the boat reach Gaza,” minister without portfolio Yossi Peled told Israel's public radio a day after the 92-meter (302-foot) freighter Amalthea set sail from the Greek port of Lavrio, south of Athens. Allowing vessels to reach the Hamas-run Gaza Strip without being checked would have “very serious consequences” for Israel's security, he said. “We are heading for Gaza. We will not change direction,” Mashallah Zwei, a representative of the Kadhafi Foundation, a Libyan charity, said by satellite phone from on board the Amalthea. He insisted the foundation was not seeking “a confrontation or a provocation,” when asked about the risks of a repeat of an Israeli naval raid on an aid flotilla on May 31 that killed nine Turks. Zwei said the ship was currently “close to Crete” and would likely reach Gaza in about two days.
