DAVID RISING
MENELAOS HADJICOSTIS
Associated Press Writers
ISTANBUL – An aid ship trying to break the blockade of Gaza could reach Israel’s 20-mile (32-kilometer) exclusion zone by Friday afternoon, an activist said, but Israel’s prime minister has vowed the ship will not reach land.
The dueling comments suggest a potential new clash over Israel’s three-year-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip – and come only four days after an Israeli commando raid on a larger aid flotilla left nine activists dead.