Gaza-bound Flotilla Vessel Hijacked by Israeli Navy
Activists say the Marianne was intercepted by Israel's military around 100
nautical miles from Gaza's shore.
By Aljazeera
June 29, 2015 "Information
Clearing House"
- "Al
Jazeera" -
Israel has boarded and taken over a vessel attempting to break the blockade of
the Gaza Strip, officials said.In a statement the
Israeli army said on Monday that it did not use force in redirecting the main
boat Marianne to the Israeli city of Ashdod.
Petros Stergiou, a spokesperson for the flotilla, told Al
Jazeera that organisers lost contact with the Marianne at around 2am local time
on Monday morning, as three military boats approached.
"What we learned is that the Israeli navy attacked the
Marianne around 100 nautical miles from the shore of Gaza," Stergiou said.
"They said they could see three military boats approaching
them that had identified themselves as being military.
"Once again, the Israeli government and its military has acted
like state pirates and attacked our boat in international waters."
Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner said the seizure of the
ship was "uneventful" and it would now be escorted to Ashdod in southern Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu commended the
Israeli navy for detaining the passengers on the ship.
"This flotilla is nothing but a demonstration of hypocrisy and
lies that is only assisting the Hamas terrorist organisation and ignores all of
the horrors in our region," Netanyahu said.
The vessel is part of the Freedom Flotilla III - a convoy of
four ships carrying pro-Palestinian activists including Arab Israeli lawmaker
Basel Ghattas, Tunisia's former president Moncef Marzouki and at least
one European lawmaker.
Previous attempts
In a similar bid to break the blockade in 2010, a pre-dawn
raid by Israeli commandos on the Turkish ferry Mavi Marmara killed 10 Turkish
activists.
In 2013, Israel apologised for "operational mistakes" in the
raid. A compensation deal is still being negotiated between the two countries.
Israeli soldiers and officials who took part in the attack are
being tried in absentia in Turkey for war crimes.
Several attempts since have been thwarted, but without
bloodshed.
Mark Worley, in Doha,
contributed to this story.
© 2015 Al Jazeera Media Network
