IHH, Turkish flotilla organizers planning to dispatch more Gaza aid ships

         A Turkish pro-Palestinian group said on Wednesday it will send another aid flotilla to Gaza next month, again trying to break an Israeli blockade after its last convoy was the target of a deadly Israeli raid in May. The Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH) told members of the European Parliament it had assembled six ships for the next flotilla and put out an appeal for others to join. Meanwhile, Israel on Wednesday issued a stern warning to Iranian and Lebanese organizers who plan to send three more aid ships to Gaza later this week. Attempts by the Iranians and Lebanese to break Israel's blockade of Gaza would be seen not just as a provocation and a breach of law, but as a "hostile" act because the ships and their cargo are from enemy states, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor "They are under a different status," he said, referring to the earlier aid flotilla forcefully intercepted on May 31, which had carried aid and activists mainly from European states including Turkey, Greece and Ireland. Nine activists - eight Turks and a Turkish American - were killed on the Turkish Mavi Marmara, on which Israeli naval commandos battled a group of several dozen activists wielding iron bars and knives, according to footage shot by the Israeli military. "They are coming from an enemy state and it means that of course the treatment is different, because legally they are different," Palmor said of the Iranian and Lebanese ships. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman had conveyed a similar message in a meeting with EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. Palmor said Israel's Foreign Ministry had no conclusive information as to when the ships would arrive and therefore said "it's much too early to go into practical terms" as to how Israel planned to deal with the vessels. The Turkish flotilla is due to sail in the second half of July, IHH said. The group invited the international media to inspect all goods on board before the convoy sails to "demonstrate their commitment to total transparency." Israel says the IHH has links to Muslim militants, which the group denies. Richard Howitt, a British member of the European Parliament who organized IHH's press conference at the parliament in Strasbourg, said the European Union had an obligation to ensure respect for humanitarian law and access for the next flotilla. "If this terrible tragedy tips the balance so that the international community finally insists on full and unhindered humanitarian access to Gaza, then some good can still come out of it," he said, referring to the deaths in the last convoy. Israel has said it is considering softening its blockade in the wake of international condemnation of the flotilla assault. The EU said on Monday it hoped the easing would begin "in the next days." Israel has said it will also hold an investigation into the incident. The probe will be conducted internally with two high-profile foreign observers, rather than being an international inquiry as the United Nations has requested. The Gaza blockade has been in place since shortly after Hamas, a militant group, took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007. Israel says the measures are designed to stop arms and "dual-use" equipment reaching Hamas and other militant groups. Al-Jazeera reported Tuesday that a ship with food, medicine and clothing, but no peace activists, would within the coming days sail for Gaza from Iran's southwestern port Khorramshahr, on the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and pass through territorial waters of Oman, Yemen and Egypt. Another load of aid would be sent to Turkey and then shipped to Gaza from Istanbul. In Lebanon meanwhile, 50 Muslim and Christian women are planning to set off for Gaza on the freighter Mariam with mainly drugs for cancer patients. Thirty of the women are from Lebanon. The rest are from elsewhere and include Europeans, one of the organizers, Samar al-Hadj said in Beirut. (17,54)