Israeli forces take over Gaza-bound aid ship

Israel on Tuesday prevented an aid ship carrying Jewish anti-blockade activists bound for the Gaza Strip from reaching its destination, the Israeli military said. There was no violence or incidents as naval forces boarded the ship, the ‘Irene’, as it approached the Gaza coast. The vessel was being towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod, about 38 kilometres north of Gaza city. The military statement said the ‘Irene’ was boarded after its captain ignored two warnings that it was breaking Israeli and international law. The ‘Irene’, sailing under a British flag, left Cyprus on Sunday and was en route to the Gaza Strip, which has been subject to an Israeli blockade since 2007.

On board are 10 left-wing Jewish activists, including a Holocaust survivor and a man whose daughter was killed in a Hamas suicide bombing in 1997. Organisers say they are bringing “symbolic aid” to Palestinians in Gaza — textbooks, prosthetic limbs, toys, musical instruments and fishing nets.

PressTV: 'Israel's Gaza boat takeover violent' Passengers onboard a Jewish aid boat, which was intercepted by Israeli warships en route to the Gaza Strip, refute Israel's claims of non-violent takeover. On Tuesday, around 10 Israeli warships surrounded the aid vessel Irene nearly 20 miles (32 kilometers) off the Gaza coast, forcefully diverting it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Following the incident, Israeli army officials insisted that the takeover was carried out without any use of force, but the civilian activists onboard the vessel begged to differ. "There are no words to describe what we went through," Israel's Ynet news website quoted passenger Yonatan Shapira as saying.