Libya Decries Israeli Piracy

Libyan UN Ambassador Giadallah Ettalhi told the 15-member Security Council that Israel was guilty of "piracy in the high seas."

Israeli warships on Monday, December 1, prevented the Libyan cargo vessel, the Al-Marwa, loaded with 3,000 tons of humanitarian aid, from sailing into Gaza.

Ettalhi asked the Security Council "to take the necessary urgent actions to allow the…ship to enter the port and unload its cargo."

He said Tripoli would allow the United Nations or other organizations to confirm that its cargo was purely humanitarian.

Palestinians in the coastal territory, home to 1.6 million, is running out of food, medicine and fuel supplies because of a long-running Israeli blockade.

Despite international criticism, Israel refuses to open any of the commercial crossings with the densely populated Gaza Strip.

The closure has again highlighted the plight of people in the overcrowded sliver of land whose economy has been crippled by a blockade Israel imposed after Hamas seized power in June 2007.

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