| Welcome to Natural Hazards Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| Aid Ship Departs Turkey for Gaza, Ending Long Halt | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: 2 Jul 2016, 11:48 PM (13 Views) | |
| skibboy | 2 Jul 2016, 11:48 PM Post #1 |
|
Aid Ship Departs Turkey for Gaza, Ending Long Halt![]() The Lady Leyla, festooned with banners, departs Mersin (courtesy twitter / numan) 2016-07-01 The general cargo vessel Lady Leyla has departed Mersin, Turkey, bound for Israel, carrying 5,000 tons of flour, 500 tons cooking oil, 2,000 tons of rice and various clothing, toys, shoes and other relief supplies for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Turkish government contributed the supplies and describes the shipment as a "first test;” she is set to arrive in Ashdod before the end of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. “The supplies aboard this ship are a sort of present from the Turkish people to their brothers and sisters in Gaza ahead of the upcoming Eid al-Fitr [July 5],” Turkish Development Minister Lutfi Elvan said at a ceremony. “They are a present from our children to Gazan children.” Turkey and Israel have reached an accord towards the restoration of ties, strained since 2010, when Israeli forces stormed the Turkish vessel Mavi Marmara and killed ten activists aboard; the ship was trying to run a blockade and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. Among other elements of the deal, Israel has apologized and offered compensation, and Turkey will be permitted to invest in infrastructure in the Gaza strip. Analysts have suggested that part of the reason for the reconciliation between Turkey and Israel is in the Israeli government's desire to develop an export market for the Leviathan gas field, which lies about 70 nm off Haifa. Its reserves were recently estimated at 640 billion cubic meters, and first production is forecast next year; an accord between Israel and Turkey could pave the way for a pipeline export project – contingent on financing and diplomatic agreement. Source:
|
![]() |
|
| skibboy | 3 Jul 2016, 11:50 PM Post #2 |
|
03 July 2016 Turkish ship arrives with Gaza aid after Israeli reconcilation deal © AFP | A picture taken on July 3, 2016 shows Lady Leyla, a humanitarian aid ship sent from Turkey to the Gaza Strip, docked at the Israeli southern port of Ashdod ASHDOD (ISRAEL) (AFP) - A Turkish ship carrying aid for Gaza arrived in Israel Sunday, a week after the two countries agreed to restore ties that soured over a deadly raid on an aid flotilla. The Lady Leyla container vessel docked at Ashdod port in the afternoon after departing on Friday, an AFP journalist reported. Its contents were to be unloaded, inspected and sent on to the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, hit by three wars with Israel since 2008 and under an Israeli blockade. The Panama-flagged ship was carrying 11,000 tonnes of supplies including food packages, flour, rice, sugar and toys, the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reported. Turkey had initially pushed for a lifting of Israel's blockade on Gaza as part of the negotiations to normalise ties, but Israel rejected this. A compromise was eventually reached allowing Turkey to send aid through Ashdod rather than directly to the Palestinian enclave. Israel says the blockade is necessary to prevent Islamist movement Hamas from receiving materials that could be used for military purposes, but UN officials have called for it to be lifted, citing deteriorating conditions in the territory. Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted AKP party has friendly ties with Gaza's Hamas rulers, and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause. Turkey and Israel were formerly close regional allies, but fell out in 2010 when Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish activists in a raid on an aid flotilla seeking to run the blockade on Gaza. Under the reconciliation deal, Israel will pay $20 million in compensation to the families of those killed. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promoted the economic benefits of restoring ties, with talk of building a pipeline to Turkey to export Israeli gas, and the need to find allies in the turbulent Middle East. The deal received a mixed response in Israel. There were allegations that it does not do enough to push for the return of four Israelis missing in Gaza -- two soldiers who have been declared dead and two civilians believed to be alive and held by Hamas. Several relatives and supporters of the soldiers' families protested against the deal outside Ashdod port on Sunday. Source:
|
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Marine · Next Topic » |







3:54 PM Jul 11