A Gaza-bound boat carrying humanitarian aid and 21 activists, including two Australians, has been intercepted by Israeli troops.
Led by the activist group, Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the ship, named the Handala, and its crew was attempting to break an Israeli naval blockade of Gaza, where mass starvation is spreading in what The World Health Organisation has labelled a man-made crisis.
In a social media message on Sunday, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition said the Handala had been “attacked by the Israeli occupation in international waters”.
“Nineteen civilian crew members and two journalists aboard the humanitarian vessel have been forcibly abducted,” the statement said.
“This is a blatant act of piracy and aggression against a peaceful mission delivering aid and solidarity to Palestinians in Gaza.”
The Israeli foreign ministry confirmed the Israeli navy had boarded the ship and released a statement saying the Navarn (another name for the Handala) had “illegally” entered “the maritime zone of the coast of Gaza”.
“The vessel is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. All passengers are safe,” reads the statement.
An online tracking tool set up to plot the Handala’s course showed the boat’s position when it was intercepted by Israeli forces was well outside Israel’s territorial waters.
Two Australians have been reported to be among the 21 activists on board the ship, including journalist Tania “Tan” Safi and human rights activist Robert Martin.
Pre-recorded video messages shared on social media show Safi and Martin urging the Australian government to sanction Israel to lobby for the release of the crew members.
“If you’re seeing this video, the Handala and its crew have been intercepted at sea,” Safi said in the video. “I’ve been abducted and taken against my will.”
A video stream from the activists appears to show them sitting on the deck of the Handala, holding their hands up and whistling the Italian anti-fascist song “Bella Ciao”, as armed soldiers take control of the ship.
Other activists aboard the Handala include French-Swedish member of the European Parliament Emma Fourreau, French National Assembly member Gabrielle Cathala, Palestinian-American human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf and 70-year-old Norwegian activist Vigdis Bjorvand.
The two journalists aboard the ship, reported to both work for Al Jazeera, are Mohamed El Bakkali, from Morocco, and Iraqi-American cameraman Waad Aal Musa.
The Gaza Government Media Office told Al Jazeera it condemns “in the strongest terms” Israel’s storming of the Handala, calling it an act of “maritime piracy”.
“This blatant aggression represents a flagrant violation of international law and maritime navigation rules,” the office said in a statement. “It reaffirms once again that the occupation acts as a thuggish force outside the law, targeting every humanitarian initiative seeking to rescue more than 2.4 million besieged and starving Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
The office has also called on the international community “to take an urgent and firm stance against this aggression and to work to secure international protection for the convoys”.
In a social media post before the Handala was intercepted, crew members had said they would go on a hunger strike if the Israeli army intercepted the boat and detained its passengers.
A previous boat sent by Freedom Flotilla, the Madleen, was intercepted by the Israeli in international waters on 9 June and taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The Madleen carried 12 campaigners, including prominent Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
The World Health Organisation has warned that nearly one in five children under the age of five in Gaza City is now suffering from acute malnutrition, a figure that’s tripled since June.
The UN’s undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher has said the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “devastating”.
“One in three people in Gaza hasn’t eaten for days. People are being shot just trying to get food to feed their families. Children are wasting away. This is what we face on the ground right now,” Fletcher said.
Amid the starvation in Gaza due to Israel’s near-total assistance blockade, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that Israel had been “forced” to allow some aid into the territory amid growing international pressure.
Humanitarian groups have welcomed steps to ease restriction to aid entering Gaza, but they emphasise that it remains only a tiny portion of what is needed.