IDF seizes 50 tons of weapons and ammo on Gaza-bound arms vessel

Navy soldiers seized a German merchant vessel chartered by a French company transporting weapons from Syria to Gaza 200 miles west off Israel's coast on Tuesday.

The prime minister noted he authorized the Navy operation on Monday night. "We had reason to assume the ship carried weapons meant to hurt Israeli citizens. The source of the weapons is Iran," he said. Netanyahu further added, "The takeover was carried out mid sea in accordance with international law. The ship is being escorted to Ashdod."

It is estimated the weapons were meant to pass Rafah's tunnels en route to Gaza thus avoiding the naval blockade.

Barak said the operation "proves the importance of the naval blockade on Gaza and the radical axis. We don’t know what Syria and Hezbollah's roles (in the attempted arms transfer) were; we will find out in the coming days."

www.ynetnews.com...

Make of it whatever you want, as I'm sure pro Israelis will see this as proof for the need for a strong blockade, while pro Palestinians will not see any significance in this event, and instead would see it as an act of piracy...

My opinion is that the naval blockade is necessary as long as Hamas continues to battle Israel, but it needs to be more fair towards the civilian population of Gaza, fishing spots need to be considered, and the blockade should be focused on preventing arms smuggling, rather than making the life in Gaza less comfortable...

This shipment, if all the details are accurate, shows that the naval blockade significantly slows down the rate in which Hamas can arm itself, which is important enough to justify it.

"a German merchant vessel chartered by a French company transporting weapons from Syria to Gaza"

That can't be right. Sounds like a lot of players involved...

The problem is this is a vicious cycle. As long as Israel blockades and strangles Gaza there will be fighters. But as long there are fighters, there will be a blockade.

I feel terrible for the Palestinians, but Israel is justified to an extent.

www.haaretz.com...

This article contradicts yours.

The weapons were in-bound to Egypt not Gaza.

Nations are aloud to sell, trade, and buy weapons. The United States imports/exports weapons. Israel imports/exports weapons. Germany imports/exports weapons. China imports/exports weapons. Russia imports/exports weapons. Iran though isn't aloud to imports/exports weapons to Egypt?

I think this is just another example of Israel violating international law (United Nations - The Law of the Sea) by seizing a ship in international waters....again. This is how problems are created.

reply to post by BiGGz


They were to be smuggled in through the Rafah tunnels...

Yes, I'm sure it was a legit arms deal that the Egyptian officials had no idea of, hidden behind bags of food, as weapons and ammo are usually stored. The beans and rice keep the ammo fresh, and the gunpowder adds flavor, it just makes sense!

Plus-

A joint statement from the IDF and Foreign Ministry said that German officials have been alerted to the ship's seizure, as the ship belonged to a German company. Liberian officials have also been alerted. The operating company of the ship was from France, and thus French officials were also made aware of the situation.

reply to post by Eliad


Oh, so basically there is no concrete evidence showing that the weapons would have went to Gaza other then an assumption..

Iran has also used South Korea, Singapore, and Italy as waypoints for its arms shipments. Last year, a shipment of 7 tons of RDX high explosives bound for Syria was intercepted in Italy. The shipment document described the cargo as "powdered milk".

reply to post by BiGGz


That we know of? No. One way or another this is a shipment of arms being smuggled to someone in Egypt, which is illegal, and apparently the info that led to capturing this shipment also suggested it was bound for Gaza.

Let's assume it wasn't meant for Gaza, let's assume the smuggled arms were meant for some other illegal operation- The point is that weapons can easily be smuggled into Gaza if there isn't a naval blockade.

Or are you now suggesting that Hamas has stopped arming itself?

Originally posted by Eliad
That we know of? No.

Oh good, so this is another instance of Israeli leaders jumping to conclusions (like we talked about in your other post).

Thanks, all I wanted to know.

6 of the confiscated missiles were the Iranian version (Nasr-1) of Chinese C704 anti-ship missiles.