A Libyan-chartered ship barred by the Israeli navy from sailing to Gaza with aid for Palestinians docked instead at Egypt's El-Arish port on Thursday and began unloading its cargo, the port chief said. The ship had anchored in the harbour area on Wednesday night before the Libyan group in charge of the mission decided to give the captain permission to dock, port chief Gamal Abdel Maqsoud said.
The voyage of the ship, chartered by a charity led by the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, had drawn attention because of concerns it might provoke a confrontation with Israeli forces enforcing a blockade of Gaza. In May, Israeli forces raided a Gaza-bound aid ship and killed nine activists, causing an international outcry.
Israel said it would not allow the ship to land in Gaza, which is controlled by the Islamist group Hamas, but would let it go to Egypt or to an Israeli port where its cargo could be delivered over land, provided it includes no banned items.
The nine activists aboard the ship - six Libyan, one Nigerian, one Algerian and one Moroccan - said they had no plan to travel to Gaza with the cargo, but others from their charity would accompany it. "The activists accompanying the ship refuse to enter Gaza through (Egypt's) Rafah border and another group will come to accompany the aid to Gaza through Rafah," Libyan activist Masha Allah Hamed Abdel Rahman said.