GAZA, July 24 (Saba) -- The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) on Saturday rejected a UN call to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip through Israeli and Egyptian land crossings rather than by sea, according to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).

"The UN call is unaccepted and the international organization doesn't have the right to specify the way to deliver the aid," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas which controls Gaza.

On Friday, a UN spokesman told journalists in New York that " there are established routes for supplies to enter by land. That is the way aid should be delivered to the people of Gaza." The UN stance was issued following an Israeli demand for an international action to prevent ships from sailing to Gaza.

Abu Zuhri said: "The UN call is a real scandal that reflects the international organization's connivance with the Israeli occupation, and also provides a covering for the occupation to continue its piracy and aggression on international supporters (with Gaza) by sea." He urged pro-Palestinian activists to continue their campaigns to break the three-year Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Two Lebanese ships carrying medical supplies to Gaza are preparing to sail to Gaza. They are the latest in a series of flotillas that have failed to dock at Gaza since the end of an Israeli offensive there in January 2009. Prior to the war, several ships, ferried by Gaza Free Movement, succeeded to reach Gaza. On May 31, Israel killed nine Turkish activists on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, sparking international outcry that eventually forced Israel to ease out its land closure on Gaza. Israel says the blockade, which was imposed in 2007, was intended to isolate Hamas.

Saba