The navy will operate under the assumption that groups of provocateurs are aboard any future ships that try to break the Israel-imposed sea blockade on the Gaza Strip, Deputy Commander of the Navy Rear-Admiral Rani Ben-Yehuda told
The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
Two
Iranian cargo ships carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza will leave next week, and one of them will be sailing via Istanbul, the official Iranian news agency IRNA reported on Monday. Another flotilla is also expected to soon leave Lebanon for the Gaza Strip.
The announcement quoted Muhammad Ali Nouraee, an aid official, who said one load of cargo will be sent to Turkey, and then shipped to Gaza from Istanbul, while the other will leave from the port of Khorramshahr.
'Intelligence does not indicate weapons on board'Ben-Yehuda said that while Israel did not have intelligence indicating that the Iranian ships were carrying weaponry, he said that the navy’s assumption would be that provocateurs are onboard.
“I recommend that humanitarian activists who are planning on
participating in these new flotillas think very hard because they
cannot know who is on these ships,” he said. “We believe that there
will be groups that will try to cause provocations and repeat what
happened on the
Marmara.”
'There are growing signs dozens had terror ties'In a wide-ranging interview that will appear in Friday’s
Frontlines section, Ben-Yehuda defended the Navy
commando raid on the
Mavi Marmara Turkish passenger
ship two weeks ago, which ended with nine dead passengers, all of whom,
according to the IDF, were hired mercenaries.
“There are growing signs and proof that there were dozens of people on
the ship who had connections with terrorist organizations from around
the region and the world,” Ben-Yehuda told the
Post.
“Some of them were even known to us from past incidents they were
involved in.”
Ben-Yehuda said that the nine passengers killed were all Turkish and
members of the violent group that attacked the navy commandos from the
Navy’s Shayetet 13 (“Flotilla 13”).
The outcome of the operation, Ben-Yehuda said, was not what the Navy had anticipated.
“We expected light resistance but never expected to meet a group of
terrorists,” he said, adding however that in the final analysis the
operation could be deemed a success.
“No innocent people were killed, only the terrorists,” he said. “When
you go into a building that terrorists have taken over and you kill the
terrorists, this is also a success.”
In addition, three Iranian parliamentarians are planning to visit Gaza via Egypt, Iranian news agencies reported Monday.
Lawmaker Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash was quoted as saying that he and two
other members of the Majlis, the Iranian parliament, would travel to
Gaza by way of Egypt later this week.
Bighash said that some 200 of the 290 Iranian MPs had wanted to make
the visit, but the three-man team would go instead. He said the
Egyptians had expressed a willingness to allow the Iranians to enter
Gaza through the Rafah crossing.
Iranian MP Mahmoud Ahmadi-Biqash said on Sunday that the Egyptian
government has agreed to issue visas to 70 Iranian parliamentarians who
have registered to travel to the Gaza Strip.
Jerusalem Post staff contributed to this report.