ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greek establishment have arrested the captain of a ship that is part of a Gaza-bound squadron annoying to deliver compassionate aid to the Palestinian country, officials said Saturday.
The 60-year-old captain, whose name was not unconfined by establishment, was being held at Piraeus police manage center and will stay there until a court perceptible variety Tuesday.
Greece's coast protector said the captain of "The Audacity of Hope" faces charges of annoying to leave port without authorization and of endangering the lives of the boat's passengers. The latter arraign is a crime.
The boat was transport 36 passengers, four team and about 10 members of the media. Its challenge to sail Friday night from the port of Perama, near Athens, was dissatisfied by coast guard speedboats. On the same day, Greece had announced it was banning vessels title to Gaza from leave-taking Greek ports.
In Jerusalem, Israel has deprived of claims it sabotaged ships trying to break its sea obstruction of the Gaza Strip.
Activists have accused Israel of harmful two ships docked in Turkey and Greece that were part of a armada attempting to arrive at the Palestinian country.
Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor dismissed the sabotage charges as "ridiculous," calling them "sad conspiracy theories."
Selcuk Unal, a orator for the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said establishment had strong-minded that there was no act of damage on an Irish vessel in the fleet that docked in the Turkish port of Gocek on the Aegean Sea.
Israel says it compulsory the obstruction in 2007 to stop armaments accomplishment the Islamic aggressive set Hamas that rules Gaza. Activists describe the blockade as a form of imprisonment for the Palestinians.
Nine activists on a Turkish ship were killed last year in an Israeli raid on a alike flotilla.
In a statement, the Middle East Quartet of Mideast mediators — the U.S., U.N., EU and Russia — said it remained worried about the hard circumstances facing Palestinians in Gaza, but noted "a marked augment in the variety and scope of supplies and materials" entering Gaza over the last year.
It urged those wish to deliver goods to Gaza to do so through "established channels," which comprise Israeli and Egyptian crossings.
The Quartet "urges command and calls on all Governments concerned to use their influence to dishearten extra flotillas, which risk the safety of their participant and carry the possible for escalation," the declaration said.
