Ramallah: The inner cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the Israeli Defence Ministry and military forces on Monday to be extremely firm and prevent the flotilla from reaching the coasts of Gaza Strip.
The inner cabinet also ordered the foreign ministry to accelerate its diplomatic campaign to prevent the flotilla from setting sail to Gaza Strip.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Monday that this was the second day of continuous discussions between Israeli senior ministers regarding the flotilla.
Earlier on Sunday Netanyahu officially told his inner cabinet that he would not allow any ship to breach the Israeli maritime blockade on Gaza.
No indication
The order clearly instructs the Ministry of Defence and Israeli military forces to be extremely firm, take all the necessary measures and prevent the flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip at any cost.
Top Israeli security officials told the inner cabinet that the majority of the participants on flotilla will be human rights activists from the Europe, Canada and the US, and that there has been no information of any kind indicating that terrorists or anybody affiliated with a terror group is participating in the flotilla.
Some Arab activists and human rightists are planning to take part in the flotilla.
The International "Freedom Flotilla II-Stay Human" will include 10 ships, two of which are cargo boats carrying aid, while the rest are passenger ships carrying hundreds of people, among them, politicians, writers, religious faiths representatives, people of arts and culture and activists. Many TV crews will be also on board as well as journalists sent by various world media representatives.
