GAZA, (PIC)-- The two anti-siege boats carrying foreign sympathizers with the plight of the Gaza Strip people under Israeli siege for more than two years on Saturday anchored at the Gaza port amidst massive and warm welcome.

Thousands of Palestinians flocked to the Gaza port to receive the vessels that braved Israeli threats and went ahead with the voyage to besieged Gaza carrying humanitarian aid.

Israel backed off at the last moment and decided not to intercept the two boats at sea, which facilitated their entry into Gaza breaking the Israeli siege for the first time through the sea harbor.

The vessels setting sail from Cyprus on Friday morning had faced troubles as their communication and navigation equipment went down as well as the telephones on board.

However, the 40 activists or more aboard the vessels were adamant on reaching Gaza despite difficulties and finally succeeded only to be warmly received by the beleaguered inhabitants of the Strip.

Ismail Haneyya, the premier of the PA caretaker government in Gaza, expressed deep appreciation and thanked the activists on board those ships, describing their move as "daring and a progressive step reflecting that the siege was isolated and not welcome by many world peoples".

Haneyya in a telephone contact with Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel said that the arrival of the vessels represented a step toward ending the siege.

He invited the Arab League secretary general and the Arab foreign ministers to visit Gaza through the Rafah border terminal and end the suffering of one and a half million Palestinians, and said that the Arabs should adopt swift decisions in the light of the arrival of those two vessels to Gaza and to invigorate the League's decisions regarding breaking the siege.