Israel carried out air strikes in January on a convoy moving through Sudan which it believed to be carrying weapons destined for Hamas in Gaza, a US television network report by CBS has said.

Two Sudanese politicians yesterday confirmed that unidentified aircraft had targeted the convoy in a remote desert region on the Red Sea coast.

The outgoing Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, appeared to fuel speculation that his country’s air force was behind the attack, which reportedly killed 39 people, when he said that “Israel hits every place it can in order to stop terror, near and far”.

CBS reported that Israeli intelligence had learned of plans to move weapons north through Sudan into Egypt and then smuggle them into the Gaza Strip to Hamas. The report said that those killed were manning the 17-vehicle convoy, although a number of civilians had also been injured in the attack, which occurred in the same month as Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

While Israeli defence officials had earlier appeared to pour cold water on the report, Mark Regev, the spokesman for Mr Olmert, would only say that it was not Israel’s practice “to respond to these sort of allegations”.

Interdiction of the convoy would certainly chime with Israeli intelligence warnings in the past that weapons destined for Hamas in Gaza were being shipped from Iran through the Persian Gulf and on to Sudan.

Belfast Telegraph