JAKARTA, Jan. 14 (Xinhuanet) -- The Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry on Friday denied that the Indonesian government had allowed the Israeli government to send relief supplies to Indonesia including those for tsunami victims in Aceh and North Sumatra.

    "The ministry has never allowed air-flight clearance for humanitarian aid from the Israeli government," the ministry's spokesman, Marty Natalegawa, was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.

    It was reported on Wednesday that a Boeing 747-200 passenger plane belonging to El Al Israel Airlines had landed at Hang Nadim airport on Batam island, Riau province, carrying 90 tons of reliefsupplies for tsunami victims in Aceh.

    Marty asserted the Indonesian government had since the beginning firmly stated it would not accept any assistance from the Israeli government and that the two countries had no bilateraldiplomatic ties.

    The 90 tons of relief aid was known to come from Israel as a report said the Israeli ambassadors in Singapore and Washington had been informed about it.

    Marty described such information as manipulation of facts.

    "They possibly wanted to describe it as assistance from the Israeli government. We need to look into the question on possible presence of Israeli officials in Batam to meet local counterparts," he said.

    On the follow-up to the report and possible Israeli assistance from non-governmental organizations, Marty said he could not yet comment on it.

    The Indonesian government was reported to have issued hundreds of flight permits to a number of countries including Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, Japan, Russia, the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, and Jordan for relief missions to Aceh and NorthSumatra.

    At least 18 countries and a number of international humanitarian organizations have distributed relief supplies to different areas in Aceh and North Sumatra, which were hit by a powerful earthquake and gigantic tsunamis on Dec. 26, 2004. Enditem