Israeli naval forces intercepted a boat that set out from Gaza shores on Tuesday in hopes of breaking Israel’s decade-long blockade of the Gaza Strip.
In a statement National Committee for Breaking Gaza’s Siege said Israeli naval vessels had surrounded the boat nearly four hours after sailing into Gaza’s sea.
The PIC reporter who was escorting the voyage in another boat till it reached the end of the fishing zone allowed by Israel said that the boat was surrounded roughly 11 nautical miles off Gaza’s coast.
However spokesperson for the committee Adham Abu Silmiyya affirmed that the boat was attacked by four Israeli war vessels 14 nautical miles off Gaza’s coast before being towed to Israel’s port of Ashdod.
He held Israel “fully responsible” for the safety of everyone aboard the boat going on to urge the international community to extend protection to the beleaguered Palestinian people.
The boat set out from Gaza on Tuesday carrying 20 Palestinian passengers including university students patients seeking treatment abroad and Palestinians injured by recent Israeli violence near the Gaza-Israel borders.
According to organizers Tuesday’s bid to break the blockade roughly coincides with the eighth anniversary of the Mavi Marmara incident (May 31 2010) in which nine Turkish activists were killed by Israeli forces in international waters (with a tenth activist later succumbing to injuries).
