ISTANBUL // The Hamas premier of the Gaza Strip has visited a ship docked in Turkey that in 2010 was the target of a deadly raid by Israeli troops seeking to prevent an aid flotilla reaching the Palestinian territory.
The visit by Ismail Haniyeh was a show of solidarity with the Turkish Islamic aid group IHH, which had planned to send the Mavi Marmara vessel with another Gaza flotilla last year but then dropped the plan.
On the Istanbul dock, Mr Haniyeh denounced the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Israel has lifted restrictions on consumer goods, though it kept a ban on materials like cement and metals that it says could be used by Hamas to build fortifications or aid attacks on Israel.
Mr Haniyeh is on a tour of the region, his first trip outside the blockaded territory since Hamas took over Gaza in 2007.
