Twenty-one international peace activists were seized by Israeli naval frigates in international waters on June 30 as their boat, The Spirit of Humanity, tried to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The activists, including former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Irish Nobel Peace laureate Mairead Maguire and nationals from 11 other countries, were part of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM) effort to break Israel's naval and border blockade of Gaza.
The activists were taken to Israel's Ashdod port, then to detention cells at Ben Gurion international airport in Tel Aviv where they await deportation.
"They simply kidnapped the passengers", said FGM founding member Greta Berlin. "I call on the Israeli occupation forces to release our people immediately."
The Spirit of Humanity left Cyprus on June 29 after receiving security clearance from the Cypriot authorities. It was carrying three tons of medical supplies and some toys.
The boat was intercepted by naval gun vessels in the early hours of June 30. The crew was warned that if they did not return to Cyprus they would be fired on.
The boat refused to follow the Israeli order and continued to towards Gaza.
The Israeli navy then jammed the boat's instrumentation, blocking its GPS, radar and navigation systems.
The aid boat was surrounded by several naval gunboats. Armed naval commandos forcibly boarded it and towed it back to Ashdod port.
"We didn't come with guns and weapons, but just with humanitarian aid, in an attempt to break the siege of Gaza and to tell the apathetic world about what is happening in the Strip, especially after the last war", FGM chairperson Huwaida Araf said in an interview with the Nazareth-based radio station Al-Shams.
McKinney, a former US presidential candidate, said: "This is an outrageous violation of international law against us. Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip.
"President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do."
Maguire, who won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in Northern Ireland, said: "The aid we were carrying is a symbol of hope for the people of Gaza, hope that the sea route would open for them, and they would be able to transport their own materials to begin to reconstruct the schools, hospitals and thousands of homes destroyed during the onslaught of Operation Cast Lead.
"Our mission is a gesture to the people of Gaza that we stand by them and that they are not alone."
The US-based Free Gaza Movement has sent a number of siege-breaking vessels to Gaza with aid supplies in an endeavour to not only deliver desperately needed goods but also to draw international attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
An International Committee of the Red Cross report released on June 29 said Palestinians living in Gaza are "trapped in despair".
Thousands of Gazans whose homes were destroyed during Israel's December-January attacks are still without shelter despite pledges of almost US$4.5 billion in aid, because Israel refuses to allow cement and other building material into the Gaza Strip, the Red Cross report said.
The report said hospitals are struggling to meet the needs of their patients due to Israel's disruption of medical supplies.
Israel allows only a limited amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Chocolate, cigarettes, fruit juice, pumpkins, schoolbooks, clothes, toys, seedlings and musical instruments are among the many items banned.
Several of FGM's vessels have managed to reach the stricken coastal territory with supplies, but others have been forcibly stopped.
The last vessel was rammed by an Israeli naval vessel several times. The badly damaged boat was forced to limp to a Lebanese port as it began to take water.
[Originally published by Inter Press Service.]