The boarding happened after the passengers’ “unwillingness to co-operate” and they “ignored calls to change course”, the military added.
Soldiers went on to the Finnish-flagged Estelle in international waters and it was being led to the southern Israeli port of Ashdod, it continued.
The military said the troops boarded the boat peacefully, and there was no harm to the passengers who were offered food and drinks.
When the boat arrives at the Ashdod port, the passengers will be transferred to the custody of the police and immigration authorities.
Victoria Strand, a spokeswoman for Ship to Gaza in Sweden, which sent the Estelle, said armed, masked soldiers boarded the boat and cut their communications 30 miles from Gaza.
She said activists on board told her six naval boats surrounded their vessel. “This is a demonstration of ruthlessness,” Ms Strand said.
The Estelle is the latest in a series of activist-manned boats challenging Israel’s blockade on Gaza, which was imposed after the militant group Hamas seized power of the territory in 2007.
The boat left Naples, Italy, on October 7 with about 20 people from eight countries, carrying items like cement, basketballs and musical instruments.
An Israeli military statement said: “The boarding was carried out in accordance with international law, with directives of the Israeli government and after all attempts to prevent the vessel from reaching the Gaza Strip were made, both via direct contact and through diplomatic channels, but to no avail.
“The boarding was carried out only after numerous calls to the passengers onboard; as a result of their unwillingness to co-operate and after ignoring calls to change course, the decision was made to board the vessel and lead it to the port of Ashdod.”
In 2010, an Israeli naval raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla killed nine Turkish activists on board.
The incident sparked international condemnation that forced Israel to ease much of its blockade, although it maintains restrictions on key exports and imports of raw materials.
[adrotate banner=”41″]
The Israelis are trying to starve the Palestinians in Gaza. The proof? Many Jews people writing comments online encourage Israel to wipe out the Palestinians from the face of the earth! Then, the Israelis complain – as did Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack a few months ago- about “global anti-Semitism!” Well, they have earned! Israel is the only state in the world that have turned a territory (GAZA) with 1.6 million into “AN OPEN AIR PRISON!” This is how the Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan describe Gaza – just before he severed diplomatic relations with Israel!
The inhumanity of Israelis in Gaza has been confirmed by a United Nations commissioned report which accused Israel of “war crimes” in Gaza. And mindful that the Israelis will call any U.N. report about Gaza biased or anti-Semitic, the U.N. assigned a Jewish Judge, Richard Goldstone, to do it! And, to add insult-to-injury, the Israelis still disputed it! Here is something undisputed: I have seen video online showing Gazans pulling 5 gallon containers fill with water in underground tunnels from Egypt to Gaza. And before Mubarak was overthrown, Israel was constructing a 40-feet deep metal mesh wall between Gaza and Egypt to cut off the tunnel supplies going to Gaza from Egypt!
Here is the answer – which resolves the growing anti-Semitism around the world- for Mr. Ehud Barak : There is no other human race around the world -except the Israelis- that have turned an enclave into an “open air prison,” and then try to cut off any supplies going in – even water- either by sea or by underground tunnels! NONE! And the excuse the Israelis use? Possible smuggling of weapons by Palestinians! It is the most preposterous argument in human history, and the wave of global anti-Semitism proves that! The people of the world feel that Israel “offends their intelligence” with that claim. Why? Hama’s 5.000 ragtag army and police cannot defeat Israel in battle. Simply stated: Humanity knows better. And the fact that people of all nationalities try to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza proves it. Nikos Retsos, retired professor
There was a reason why Mahatma Gandhi deemed civil disobedience the most effective weapon for change.
Keep those ships coming.