The Israeli navy seized an international pro-Palestinian activist vessel in the Mediterranean on Saturday to prevent it breaching a blockade of the Gaza Strip, said a military spokeswoman.
She said no one was hurt when marines boarded the SV Estelle, a three-mast schooner, and that it was rerouted to the Israeli port of Ashdod after it ignored orders to alter course from the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave.
The Estelle was carrying 30 activists from Europe, Canada and Israel, humanitarian cargo such as cement and goodwill items such as children’s books, a mission spokesman said.
The interception occurred in international waters on the vessel’s final approach to Gaza. – (Reuters)