IDF commandeers Zaytouna ship
IDF commandeers Zaytouna shipפלאש 90

After calls to the "Zeytouna" ship, the only ship in the much-publicized "women's flotilla" aimed to break the blockade of Gaza, for cooperation were answered negatively by the crew, Israeli Navy fighters commandeered the ship before its arrival in Gaza.

The IDF has stated that the process was short, and without injuries.

According to the IDF, the action was taken after a number of requests were made to the crew as the Navy approached the ship. After it became apparent that the crew was not going to cooperate and land at the Israeli port of Ashdod, as requested, it was decided to commandeer the ship and to tow it to Ashdod.

Female members of the Israeli Navy boarded and apprehended the women on the ship.

Activists aboard the Zaytouna-Oliva, which set sail from the Spanish city of Barcelona last month, include Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Maguire, Swedish and Algerian lawmakers, a South African Olympic athlete and a Malaysian doctor.

The all-female initiative seeks to break Israel's decade-long "blockade" of the Gaza Strip, which prevents heavy weapons from being brought in by sea, and show solidarity with the women of Gaza.