This article was originally published by Ma'an News and is republished with permission.

Palestinian Legislative Council member Mustafa Barghouthi is seen aboard the SS Dignity shortly after the boat docked in the Gaza Strip this morning. (Eman Mohammed, Maan Images)

Human rights supporters and dignitaries with the Free Gaza Movement defied an Israeli blockade for the second time in three months on Wednesday when their ship, the SS Dignity, arrived on the beach at Gaza on Thursday morning.

Twenty-seven crew members and passengers from 13 countries were on board along with a half-ton of medical supplies.

The ship was welcomed warmly by Palestinian officials and ordinary people upon arriving in the Gaza Strip from Cyprus.

The Gaza Strip's 1.5 million people have suffered under an Israeli-led blockade since June 2007. Israel has imposed restrictions on the quantities of vital goods, including food, fuel, medical supplies and construction materials that are allowed to enter the tiny Strip.

Two ships affiliated to the Free Gaza movement went to Gaza in August.

The Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative, Mustafa Barghouthi, was on board SS Dignity.

He said that he had finally succeeded in entering the Gaza Strip after Israeli authorities had denied him entry for over two years.

"We have people from the West Bank, Jerusalem and Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 which indicate that the Palestinian people are united," Barghouthi said.

He added, "We saw how international solidarity with the Palestinian people was strong as those activists sailed in a boat which is not equipped for long journeys."

Mairead Corrigan McGuire, a Northern Ireland peace activist and 1976 Nobel prize winner, was also on board.

On Tuesday, the Israeli Navy said it would intercept the ship "if it entered Israeli territorial waters." The Free Gaza Movement has said that since it was sailing to Gaza, avoiding the Israeli coast, it planned to avoid Israel's waters altogether. In the past Israel has cited the Oslo peace agreement as giving it the right to patrol Gaza's waters. In the document outlining Israel's 2005 "disengagement" from Gaza, Israel also unilaterally reserved its right to operate in the waters off the coast of Gaza.

Regardless of the legal situation, Israel did not follow through on its stated intention to interdict the ship.

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International boat visitors tour suffering areas of the Gaza Strip