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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/8515941/Israel-navy-fires-warning-shots-at-Gaza-aid-ship.html

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Israel navy fires warning shots at Gaza aid ship
Israeli naval forces fired warning shots on Monday at a ship carrying aid to Gaza as it approached the shore, forcing it to withdraw to Egyptian waters, according to reports.



Shamsul Azhar, from the Perdana Global Peace Foundation, said that the MV Finch, which was carrying sewage pipes to Gaza, had warning shots fired at it by Israeli forces in the Palestinian security zone.

"The vessel was in the Palestinian security zone, about 400 metres from the Gaza shoreline, when they were intercepted by Israeli naval forces," he said, adding it was now anchored 30 nautical miles away in Egyptian territory.

The Perdana Foundation is helmed by former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad, a strident critic of the West and Israel over the Palestinian issue during his two decades in power.

The organisation was also involved in the first "Freedom Flotilla", a 2010 attempt to break the Israeli embargo on Gaza which ended in disaster when naval commandos raided the aid ships, killing nine Turks on board one of them.

Perdana Foundation officials said the MV Finch left the Port of Piraeus in Greece on May 11 for Gaza, carrying plastic pipes to help restore the "devastated" sewage system in Gaza.

Alang Bendahara, a Malaysian journalist on board, said that in a dramatic encounter, Israeli naval ships stopped the vessel with a volley of gunfire as it approached the shore.

"The Israeli naval vessel fired a warning shot at us upon approaching and asked us to leave the waters but the ship's captain refused and the Israelis fired again, circling the MV Finch before firing twice more," he said.

"At that point they threatened the ship's captain that they would board the vessel and we were forced to turn back, it was lucky that no one was injured," he added.

Alang said the ship's propellers then got stuck in fishing nets but that it managed to move away shortly after.

"Two Egyptian naval vessels were monitoring us and they escorted us once we were in Egyptian waters," he said.

"They have now boarded our vessel and are inspecting our cargo to make sure there is nothing illegal onboard. They will be escorting us to the port of Al-Arish because they say they will detain the ship."

The journalist said there were 12 people on board the vessel - seven Malaysians, two Irish, two Indians and a Canadian - including anti-war activists and journalists.

Foundation officials said the MV Finch is not part of an international aid flotilla which plans to set sail for the Gaza Strip in June.

Last month, Avidgor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister, condemned the new convoy, dubbed "Freedom Flotilla II," as aimed solely at harming his country.

Since the 2010 flotilla incident, Israel has loosened some of the restrictions on imports into Gaza and exports from the coastal enclave, but aid vessels are routinely diverted to Ashdod in Israel or Egyptian ports.

The Perdana Foundation sent volunteers on the first aid flotilla operation, and also sponsored part of the cost of the mission.

The latest incident comes as Israel was accused of shooting dead at least 13 Palestinian refugees trying to breach its frontiers from Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday, after a Facebook campaign to storm the borders.

Thousands of Palestinians came under fire as they gathered along border fences to demand the right to return to homes, now on Jewish land, which they abandoned during wars with Israel in 1948 and 1967.

Israeli soldiers killed at least two protesters and wounded 15 more after dozens cut their way through the fenced ceasefire line separating Syria from the occupied Golan Heights, seized by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967.

Ten refugees were shot dead on the Lebanese side of the border with Israel and one protester was killed in Gaza.

The mass protests represented an unprecedented civilian challenge to Israel from neighbouring territory and catapulted the Jewish state into the maelstrom of the Arab uprisings for the first time.



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Zechariah 12:3,9:
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
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