Global General

Hamas: seizing Irish aid ship "state terrorism"

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2010-06-05 21:00

GAZA - An Islamic Hamas movement official described on Saturday the seizure of an Irish Gaza-bound aid vessel by Israeli troops as "state terrorism."

"This is a new act of piracy," Ismail Radwan, a Gaza-based Hamas official told Xinhua. "Israel is defying the international law."

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The Israeli army announced early on Saturday that its naval forces managed to take over the Irish aid boat, Rachel Corrie, without meeting resistance and led it to the Israeli seaport of Ashdod.

The ship, which was halted a few miles before reaching Gaza waters, was loaded with construction materials and educational stuff.

Last week, Israeli commandos killed at least nine activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid flotilla as they tried to bar it from reaching the blockaded territory to deliver relief aid to the seaside enclave where Israel has imposed a blockade for three years.

However, the Rachel Corrie cargo ship, decided to move forward toward Gaza despite the bloody end of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" last week.

Rodwan, whose Islamic party rules Gaza since 2007, called for " bringing Israel's political and military leaders to international criminal courts for their bloody attacks."

The Hamas official also urged the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to immediately stop the US-sponsored proximity talks with Israel, launched last month, demanding the Arab states to call off the Arab Initiative for peace with Israel as a response to "state terrorism" Israeli practices.