After Israeli raid, Freedom Flotilla aid starts to flow to Gaza

Ships involved in the "Freedom Flotilla" were towed into the Israel port of Ashdod after the Israeli raid Monday. Some of the humanitarian aid is being delivered by Israel to Gaza. But Hamas says it won't accept it until flotilla activists are released from Israeli detention.

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As international criticism and even fury mounted in the wake of the attack, carried out in international waters on the Mediterranean, Israel scrambled to defend its decision to intercept the boats.

On Tuesday, Israeli military officials allowed journalists to tour the country’s only commercial crossing with the Gaza Strip, Kerem-Shalom, where they say they are currently transferring the first shipments of the flotilla’s humanitarian supplies into the blockaded territory. Israel had opposed the flotilla out of concern that it could be used to smuggle weapons to Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip and is considered by Israel, Europe, and the US to be a terrorist group.

In Pictures: The Gaza flotilla and the aftermath of the Israeli naval raid

Hamas rejects aid

But Hamas officials in Gaza rejected the aid, reports from the territory said. The Islamists said they would not accept the aid until Israel released the hundreds of foreign flotilla activists who had been detained in Ashdod upon arrival – and then only if the shipments were “complete.”

Among the 10,000 tons of aid is cement to help Gaza rebuild after Israel’s devastating three-week offensive on the territory last year. But Israel does not permit cement into the territory, because it can also be used to reinforce smuggling tunnels (to bring in weapons) along the Gaza border.

Uri Singer, head of the foreign relations branch of Israel’s Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), told journalists at a briefing Tuesday that while Israel had begun transferring some aid, it could not guarantee that all of it would be transferred until it reviewed the complete inventory.

“The [flotilla] goods arrived without any order or manifest,” said Mr. Singer. “We need to understand first what is on the ships, and then we will process and send the goods according to Israeli policy vis-à-vis the Gaza Strip.”

IN PICTURES: The Gaza flotilla and the aftermath of the Israeli naval raid