Israeli forces have intercepted around 40 boats carrying aid and foreign activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, to Gaza, triggering international condemnation and protests on Thursday.
Cameras broadcasting live feeds from the boats showed Israeli soldiers sporting helmets and night vision goggles boarding the ships, while passengers huddled together in life vests with their hands up.
A video from the Israeli foreign ministry showed Sweden's Thunberg, the most prominent of the flotilla's passengers, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
According to a tracker on the organiser, Global Sumud Flotilla's website, 40 boats were listed as "intercepted" or "assumed intercepted". Another two were said to be "sailing”, but one of those appeared to be stationary.
Those vessels intercepted and those on board were expected to be taken initially to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where one ship was seen arriving by a witness.
"All the passengers are safe and in good health. They are making their way safely to Israel, from where they will be deported to Europe," the Israeli foreign ministry said on X.
"One last vessel of this provocation remains at a distance. If it approaches, its attempt to enter an active combat zone and breach the blockade will also be prevented," it added.
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa joined international condemnation of Israel's move, calling it a "grave offence" against "global solidarity and sentiment that is aimed at relieving suffering in Gaza".
Ramaphosa says the interception in international waters reinforced Israel's continued violation of international law and called on Israel to immediately release South Africans who were on the flotilla, including former president Nelson Mandela's grandson, Nkosi Zwelivelile Mandela.
The activists are expected to be transferred to the immigration authority upon arrival in Ashdod, from where they will be moved to Ketziot Prison in southern Israel before they are deported, said Suhad Bishara, the director at Adalah, a human rights organisation and legal centre in Israel.
"Our main concern of this stage, of course, their well-being, their health condition, as well, making sure that they all get the legal advice prior to the hearings, during the hearings in the Immigration Tribunal and while (they are) in Israeli prison," Bishara said on Thursday. - Reuters
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