Two boats carrying members of a US-based activist group will sail into the Mediterranean city of Gaza Friday from Cyprus to challenge the Israeli blockade on the enclave, a Palestinian official said on Thursday.

On Saturday, the Palestinians will meet the ships offshore since Israel threatened to ban them from making their voyage to the besieged coastal strip, said Jamal al-Khodary, an independent Palestinian parliamentarian activist.

Twenty Palestinians boats will receive the two ships offshore and accompany the international campaigners in their move to challenge the Israeli gunboats "and proceed their way to Gaza," according to al-Khodary.

The move was organized by Free Gaza Movement, a US-based nonviolent organization which bought the ships and the supplies after they raised funds in Europe and America.

The two wooden vessels from Cyprus carry 40 human rights workers from 17 different countries and peace activists as well as journalists to protest what they call "the Israeli siege on the strip." The boats also carry food and medicine supplies to Gazan children.

Israel imposed the siege on Gaza last year when Hamas seized control of the territory by force.

(Xinhua News Agency August 22, 2008)