By Alexander Cornwell
TEL AVIV (Reuters) -The Israeli military intercepted the last boat in an aid flotilla attempting to reach blockaded Gaza on Friday, a day after stopping most of the vessels and detaining some 450 activists including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg.
The organisers of the Global Sumud Flotilla said the vessel, Marinette, was intercepted on Friday morning some 42.5 nautical miles (79 km) from Gaza. Israeli army radio said the navy had taken control of the last ship in the flotilla, detained those aboard and that the vessel was being led to Ashdod port in Israel.
In a statement, the Global Sumud Flotilla said Israeli naval forces had now “illegally intercepted all 42 of our vessels—each carrying humanitarian aid, volunteers, and the determination to break Israel’s illegal siege on Gaza”.
An Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the ship’s status. The ministry said on Thursday the flotilla’s one remaining vessel would be prevented from breaching the blockade if it tried to.
The flotilla, which set sail in late August, marked a high-profile display of opposition to Israel’s blockade of the enclave, almost two years into Israel’s Gaza offensive which was sparked by Hamas’ October 7 attacks.
Israeli officials have repeatedly denounced the mission as a stunt. Israel’s navy had previously warned the flotilla it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked organisers to change course. It had offered to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell and Jana Choukeir; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Alison Williams and Sharon Singleton)
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