JERUSALEM: A Gaza aid ship left for Egypt Saturday under Israeli pressure, officials in Greece said, but Libyan organisers declared it intended to defy the Jewish state`s blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

The ship`s agent and the Greek foreign ministry said the vessel chartered to a charity headed by a son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi had departed for the Egyptian port of El-Arish.

"All the ship`s documents are in order, they indicate as its destination the Egyptian port of El-Arish," said Petros Arvanitis, the agent of the cargo ship Amalthea.

Greek foreign ministry spokesman Grigoris Delavekouras said his office had "received assurances from the Libyan ambassador that the boat would head for El-Arish."

But the Kadhafi Foundation that organised the shipment said later that the ship`s destination was Gaza.

"The ship is heading toward Gaza as planned," Youssef Sawan, the charity`s executive director, told AFP by telephone from Tripoli.

"This is a purely humane mission, it is neither provocative nor hostile," he added.

Earlier, an Arab-Israeli lawmaker also told AFP that the ship`s crew -- six Libyans, a Moroccan, a Nigerian and an Algerian -- intended to head to Gaza in a bid to defy the blockade of the impoverished Palestinian enclave.

"The ship is heading into Gaza as originally planned," said Ahmed Tibi, who is in contact with the charity headed by Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, the son of the Libyan leader and widely seen as heir apparent.

"The foundation confirmed to me that the boat will try to reach Gaza`s port to unload its cargo," said the member of Israel`s Knesset, or parliament, stressing "the political and humanitarian importance is to break the blockade."

The Tripoli-based charity aid group said the Moldova-flagged ship was "loaded with about 2,000 tonnes of humanitarian aid in the form of foodstuff and medications" for the Hamas-run Gaza.

Earlier Saturday, the Greek foreign ministry had said it was in contact with Israeli diplomats about the aid ship.

Israel in turn said its intense diplomatic efforts with Moldova and Egypt had succeeded in keeping the ship from trying to break the naval blockade of the Palestinian enclave.

"Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman spoke several times in recent days with the foreign ministers of Greece and Moldova and reached understandings with them about dealing with the Libyan ship," a ministry statement said.

"The foreign ministry believes that due to these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza," it added.

This latest attempt to defy the blockade comes after the killings on May 31 of eight Turks and a dual US-Turkish citizen when Israeli commandos attacked a flotilla heading for Gaza, sparking a furious row with Ankara which wants Israel to apologise or accept an international probe.

Israel has refused to apologise, claiming its commandos only used force to defend themselves after being ambushed.

Israel imposed the blockade in June 2006 after one of its soldiers, Gilad Shalit, was captured by Gaza militants and tightened it a year later when Hamas seized power in the coastal strip.

Since May 31, Israel has significantly eased the blockade, barring only arms and goods that could be used to create weapons or build fortifications, but it has maintained the naval blockade.

Israeli media reported Saturday that Israel had asked the United Nations to stop the Libyan ship.

Gabriela Shalev, the Jewish state`s UN envoy, sent a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon asking the international community intervene to prevent the ship approaching Gaza, Haaretz newspaper reported on its website.

"Israel calls upon the international community to exert its influence on the government of Libya to demonstrate responsibility and prevent the ship from departing to the Gaza Strip," Haaretz quoted from the letter.

Shalev also warned in the letter that "Israel reserves the right under international law to prevent this ship from violating the existing naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.



BDST:0921 HRS , July 11, 2010