Israel halts boat planning to deliver aid to Gaza

An Israeli left wing activist holds a placard in Jaffa port near Tel Aviv December 7, 2008.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Israeli police on Sunday foiled an attempt by Israeli Arabs to set off in 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.

The Israeli Arab Islamist Movement organized what was to have been the first boat journey from Israel to the Gaza Strip with humanitarian supplies.

But police in the port of Jaffa instructed the boat's owner not to set off for Gaza and ordered him to move the vessel to the nearby Tel Aviv marina, where it was put under watch.

"We warned the boat's owner that he would be breaking the law and would be arrested if his boat were to try to sail to Gaza," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israeli law bans Israeli citizens from traveling to the Gaza Strip, territory Israeli soldiers and settlers quit in 2005.

"This is a cowardly act by people and the police who fear our delivery of medication to Gaza's Shifa hospital. But we will continue to try to break the siege," said Ahmed Tibi, an Arab member of Israel's parliament.

The United Nations and human rights groups have voiced concern about the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and called on Israel to ease its blockade.

Last week, the Israeli navy turned back a Libyan ship which Palestinian and Libyan officials said was trying to deliver 3,000 tonnes of food, medicine and other aid to the Gaza Strip.

Israel, apparently seeking to avoid a public confrontation, had previously allowed several boats carrying pro-Palestinian foreign activists and humanitarian goods to dock in the Gaza Strip after setting sail from Cyprus.

(Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Louise Ireland)