Though Israeli officials have so far declined to confirm or deny the reports, an Israeli television station is claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed allowing an “international force” to monitor every ship entering Gaza ports in return for “easing” the blockade.
Israel has had a full blockade on the Gaza Strip for years, preventing everything from chocolate and toys to cement from reaching the tiny enclave’s 1.5 million people.
But while Israel has regularly stopped aid ships attempting to reach the strip it was an Israeli attack on an aid ship on Sunday night, an attack which killed at least 9 aid workers (initial reports indicated the toll could be as high as 19) that has drawn renewed attention to the blockade.
Israel has responded by defending not only the blockade but the killing of the aid workers, who they claimed were secretly in league with terrorists. Yet international pressure is clearly on the rise, and despite claims to the contrary it could force Israel to rethink the blockade, at least as it is currently constituted.
