A fleet of Arab ships plans to sail into the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip in a bid to break a 22-month-old Israeli blockade on the territory, a Hamas spokesman said on Sunday.

"A new uprising to break the siege is being prepared underway," said Adel Zourob, a spokesman for a siege-breaking committee sponsored by Hamas administration of the Gaza Strip.

According to Zourob, a lobby of 35 Lebanese and Palestinian organizations is preparing to send ships to the Gaza Strip by the end of May. "Arab and international campaigners will be onboard."

Israel imposed a tight blockade on the Gaza Strip in June 2007 after Islamic Hamas movement routed security forces of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In summer 2008, western and international activists succeeded to dock their boats at Gaza after being searched by Cypriot authorities in the Mediterranean port city of Larnaca, their final stop before sailing to Gaza.

But later, the Israeli navy stopped several Arab ships that sailed directly from their origin homes.

(Xinhua News Agency April 5, 2009)