Israel to stop Gaza aid ships

Israel says it will prevent, if necessary by force, a nine-ship flotilla of peace activists and humanitarian aid from reaching the Gaza Strip. The Freedom Flotilla is carrying around 700 pro-Palestinian activists from various countries, as well as 10,000 tonnes of aid. Three ships are from Turkey, two from the UK and one each from Ireland, Greece, Kuwait and Algeria. In accordance with the directions of the Israeli government, the Israel army and the Israeli navy are preparing to prevent the flotilla from reaching the Gaza shore," a military source said on Thursday. Organisers of the aid fleet said that they will ignore Israeli threats and head straight for Gaza's shores. Some Israeli officials see this as a disastrous public-relations situation. "We can't win on this one in terms of PR," Yigal Palmor, a foreign ministry spokesman, said. "If we let them throw egg at us, we appear stupid with egg on our face. If we try to prevent them by force, we appear as brutes."