FINAL WARNING:ISRAEL ISSUED a final warning to the crew and passengers of the Rachel Corrieyesterday, after promising safe escort to the Israeli port of Ashdod with guarantees that the aid on board will reach Gaza after Israeli security checks.
However, the Rachel Corriecrew and passengers rejected the offer.
Officials in Jerusalem made it clear the maritime blockade remained in place and no vessels would be allowed to reach Gaza.
The message, delivered by foreign ministry director general Yossi Gal at a press conference for foreign correspondents in Jerusalem, stressed that Israel did not seek a confrontation and had no desire to board the Irish vessel.
“If the ship decides to sail to the port of Ashdod, then we will ensure its safe arrival and will not board it,” Mr Gal said, noting that similar messages have been sent to the ship via different channels over the last few days.
“Israel is prepared to receive the ship and to offload its contents. After an inspection to ensure that no weapons and war materials are on board, we are prepared to deliver all of the goods to Gaza.”
He also promised that representatives of the people on board and relevant non-governmental organisations could accompany the convoy to Gaza.
Mairéad Maguire, an Irish Nobel peace prize laureate aboard the vessel, said activists were determined to press on but would offer no resistance if Israeli forces came on board.
"We will sit down," she told the Associated Pressin a telephone interview from the ship. "They will probably arrest us . . . But there will be no resistance."
Under intense international pressure, prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu has offered to ease the maritime blockade Israel imposed on Gaza after Hamas took control of the coastal strip in 2007.
Israel is now willing to allow international inspectors to examine the cargos of Gaza-bound vessels.
But Mr Netanyahu stressed that without strict security controls Iran was liable to transfer huge numbers of rockets and missiles, essentially turning Gaza into an Iranian Mediterranean port.
At a meeting with senior ministers late on Thursday Mr Netanyahu said he had instructed the military to act with sensitivity in preventing the Rachel Corriefrom landing and avoid harming those on board.
Israel yesterday released the initial findings of its investigation into the navy’s takeover of the Marmara, which ended with nine dead passengers and more than 30 wounded.
The Israeli military concluded that the commandos were attacked by a well-trained group of mercenaries, without identity papers but carrying thousands of dollars, who split up into groups of about 20 men each to attack the commandos on the upper deck.
Israeli forensic experts who examined the ship found bullet casings belonging to a weapon not used by the Israeli military, and according to Israeli sources it is believed weapons were thrown overboard as the commandos took control of the vessel.