BICOM

The Israeli Navy has successfully and peacefully intercepted a boat carrying female activists attempting to break Israel’s naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The boat, the Zaytouna-Oliva, was boarded yesterday evening around 50km from the Gaza coast by female Israeli troops and naval cadets without resistance or violence. The IDF called the intervention “uneventful”. The boat was escorted to the Israeli port of Ashdod. Thirteen women were aboard the vessel, which set sail from Barcelona in September. Passengers include Northern Irish 1976 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire and Swedish MEP Malin Bjork.

An IDF statement said: “In accordance with international law, the Israeli Navy advised the vessel numerous times to change course prior to the action. Following their refusal the Navy visited and searched the vessel in international waters in order to prevent their intended breach of the lawful maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip.”

The Zaytouna-Oliva was not carrying any humanitarian aid. The organisers told the Washington Post that their aim was to “challenge Israel’s blockade of Gaza” and to “show solidarity with the Palestinian people”.

Israel tightly controls naval traffic around the Gaza coast, in order to prevent Hamas from importing arms and materials to boost its military capacity, and has thwarted several such attempts. Despite these controls, Hamas claims to have a greater number of rockets than it did during Operation Protective Edge in 2014.

Israel has consistently warned protest vessels that naval restrictions over Gaza will be maintained and in 2010, ten Turkish citizens were killed whilst violently trying to prevent Israeli commandos taking over the Gaza-bound protest ship, the Mavi Marmara. A year later, a United Nations (UN) sanctioned report into the incident, headed by Sir Geoffrey Palmer concluded that Israeli naval restrictions over Gaza are entirely legal.