Israeli navy: intercepted Gaza aid ship

The Israeli navy has intercepted a flotilla aiming to break the blockade on the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, Israeli media reported.

According to a high-ranking officer, passengers on board the Zaytouna-Olivia offered no resistance when the troops took over the boat, said Haaretz.

The boat was redirected to the Israeli port city of Ashdod.

The Women’s Boat to Gaza, an initiative of the International Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which had set out from Barcelona, was scheduled to arrive at the port of Gaza on Wednesday night, according to its website, said the paper.

Among the Zaytouna-Olivia's 13 passengers are several parliamentarians, an Olympic athlete, a retired U.S. army colonel and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland. 

Another boat, the Amal 2, was forced to turn back to Barcelona due to a technical malfunction.

However, organizers have voiced suspicions that the boat was sabotaged.

Source: MENA