by WorldTribune Staff, July 3, 2016
Days after re-establishing ties with Israel, Turkey dispatched a shipment of food and medical supplies bound for the Gaza Strip.
The Panamanian-registered Lady Leyla cargo ship docked on July 3 at Israel’s southern Ashdod Port, from where Israel will transport the supplies to Gaza.
Under the terms of the reconciliation agreement, Israel will maintain its naval blockade of the Gaza Strip but will facilitate the transport of humanitarian and civilian goods sent by Turkey through the Ashdod Port as well as the Kerem Shalom Crossing between Israel and southern Gaza.
The agreement also obligates Turkey, which has diplomatic ties with Hamas, not to allow any preparation for terrorist attacks against Israel from its territory, including the raising of funds for Hamas.
Under the accord, Turkey will also help build both a power and a desalination plant and a hospital.
Meanwhile, the family of IDF soldier Oron Shaul, one of two Israeli soldiers whose bodies have been held by Hamas since the 2104 Gaza war, protested at the Kerem Shalom Crossing on July 3. Shaul’s parents and family members blocked roads in the vicinity of the crossing in attempt to deter the transfer of supplies to Gaza.
The Shaul family along with the relatives of Hadar Goldin, the other IDF soldier whose remains are held in Gaza, have protested the deal between Turkey and Israel as it does not stipulate the return of the bodies of Shaul and Goldin.
Turkish ship bearing aid for Palestinians arrives in Ashdod Port, Israel added by World Tribune on
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