A boat carrying 13 pro-Palestinian women activists was escorted to shore and docked at an Israeli port on Thursday after being intercepted by the navy while trying to break Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip, the military said. Sabine Haddad, spokeswoman for Israel’s Interior Ministry, said 11 of the passengers were being detained for 96 hours and would then be deported.
The boat, docked in the port city of Ashdod, was sponsored by the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a collection of pro-Palestinian groups mostly based in Europe.
Israel’s blockade The coalition has sent several aid boats to Gaza in an effort to draw attention to Israel’s blockade of the territory, but last successfully reached the area in 2008.
The Dutch-flagged boat was carrying 13 women activists from different countries, including Mairead Maguire, an Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Organizers said the Israeli navy intercepted the boat about 60 km from the Gaza coast on Wednesday and took over the vessel without any resistance. In 2010, Israel raided a Turkish-led flotilla bound for Gaza, killing 10 Turks in an incident that sparked a years-long rift with Turkey that is only now being mended.
