LONDON

The Irish tanaiste (foreign minister) on Monday praised the Madleen, a Gaza-bound aid ship that was intercepted by Israel, but said it is a "shame" on the world and international community that people are starving in Gaza.

"The Madleen was an effort to get food and medicine to the starving people of Gaza; an unarmed civilian effort in the midst of devastation and catastrophic humanitarian conditions," Simon Harris said in a statement.

His statement came after the British-flagged ship carrying aid, including food and baby formula, was intercepted and boarded by Israeli forces at night before reaching the Gaza shore. It was later towed to Ashdod Port in Israel.

Praising the effort, Harris noted that it was also "a powerful symbol" of the urgent and essential need to end the blockade on humanitarian aid.

"What the flotilla has highlighted is the urgent need for humanitarian aid to get into Gaza," he said, adding that it is yet another attempt by Israeli authorities to prevent aid from entering.

Harris stressed that it should not be up to any small group of civilians to get aid into Gaza, recalling that Ireland has consistently called on Israel to lift its blockade and allow unhindered access to humanitarian aid on a large scale.

Reiterating that the UN and humanitarian organizations must be allowed to work independently and do their job, Harris added: "It is a shame on the world and international community that people are starving in Gaza."

"The question we should be asking today is not a debate about the merits or not of the flotilla but how it has come to this—that the world is turning a blind eye to starving children in Gaza," he noted.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition sent the 18-meter Madleen from Catania, Sicily, Italy, to break the blockade in Gaza and deliver aid.

A total of 12 people are on board, including 11 activists and one journalist.

Among the people on board are Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg; French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan; Yasemin Acar from Germany; Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi, and Reva Viard from France; Thiago Avila from Brazil; Suayb Ordu from Türkiye; Sergio Toribio from Spain; Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands; and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France.

The ship is carrying urgently needed supplies for the people of Gaza, including baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women’s sanitary products, water desalination kits, medical supplies, crutches, and children’s prosthetics, according to its organizers.