Another aid ship heading for Gaza

JERUSALEM, June 4 (UPI) -- Another aid ship bound for Gaza should arrive soon despite what organizers say was Israel's sabotage of two vessels carrying journalists.

The Irish humanitarian aid ship Rachel Corrie was about 100 miles off the Israeli coast late Friday, with plans calling for the vessel to head toward Gaza at daybreak Saturday, The Washington Post reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a meeting of government ministers Thursday Israel will not allow any ships to reach the Gaza Strip, Ynetnews said.

"We shall not allow the ships to reach Gaza. Not now and not later on," Netanyahu said. "We intend to direct the Rachel Corrie ship to the Ashdod port and transfer its civilian goods to Gaza following a security check."

Flotilla legal adviser Audrey Bomse said as the Rachel Corrie left Cyprus, a malfunction was detected in two of the accompanying vessels that were carrying reporters, Ynetnews reported Friday. The damage sustained by one vessel would take weeks to repair and the second ship is docked in Cyprus, Bomse said.

She said Israel admitted resorting to "gray" measures to stop the flotilla. The legal adviser said her group, Free Gaza, had not been able to contact the ship since Thursday night and suggested that Israel jammed the radio system.

On Monday, Israeli commandos stormed another humanitarian aid flotilla, killing nine passengers -- eight Turks and one man of dual Turkish-American citizenship.

Autopsy results indicated all nine died of gunshot wounds and five of them had been shot in the head, Dr. Haluk Ince, the director of Istanbul's Medical Examination Institute, said Friday.

Ince said at least one of the nine was shot in the head from a distance estimated at between less than 1 inch and about 5 1/2 inches, CNN reported.

He said Furkan Dogan, 19, a dual national Turkish-American citizen, had bullet wounds in his head and several bullets in his body, the report said.

Israel, which has maintained a years-long blockade of Gaza, said the flotilla was carrying materials for insurgents and its organizers had ties to terrorist groups. Israeli leaders said the troops were acting in self-defense because they were attacked by activists while boarding a Turkish-flagged ship.