Gaza Aid Flotilla Activists Taken To Ashdod After Israeli Interception

TEL AVIV, May 20 (dpa) -- Several hundred activists seized by Israeli authorities from a Gaza-bound aid flotilla were taken on Wednesday to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Representatives of the human rights organization Adalah met the detained participants of the Global Sumud Flotilla for legal consultations, the group said. Adalah has previously represented activists in Israeli courts.

The activists were “forcefully abducted from international waters and taken into Israeli territory entirely against their will,” the organization said in a statement.

Israel’s navy intercepted the flotilla overnight. "Another PR flotilla has come to an end. All 430 activists have been transferred to Israeli vessels and are making their way to Israel, where they will be able to meet with their consular representatives," the ministry said on X.

Organizers said the aim of the flotilla was to "establish a humanitarian corridor and break Israel's illegal siege of Gaza."

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said the protest action was "nothing more than a PR stunt at the service of Hamas."

In previous cases, international activists intercepted at sea were deported to their home countries after a period in Israeli custody.

The Global Sumud Flotilla resumed its voyage toward Gaza last Thursday, two weeks after an earlier interception by the Israeli navy. The convoy had departed from the Turkish port city of Marmaris with more than 50 vessels carrying activists from 40 countries.

Israel accuses some of the activists of links to the Islamist militant group Hamas in Gaza.

--NNN-dpa