Ikram Kouachi
27 July 2025•Update: 28 July 2025
ANKARA
Israeli forces on Sunday towed a seized aid ship seeking to break a siege on the Gaza Strip to the Ashdod Port in southern Israel, local media said.
The Handala vessel, carrying baby formula, food, and medicine, was seized by Israeli forces near the Gaza coast on Saturday night.
Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said the activists aboard the ship were questioned upon arrival at Ashdod Port and will be transferred to the Israel Police for further procedures.
The ship, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), set sail from Italy in an attempt to break a months-long Israeli siege, which has left Gaza’s 2.4 million population on the verge of famine.
The International Committee to Break the Siege of Gaza (ICBSG), a member of FFC, confirmed that the Handala crew has been taken to Ashdod Port after being "illegally seized in international waters by Israeli forces.”
The committee said that representatives from the Israeli legal center Adalah are waiting permission from Israeli authorities to access the detained crew.
In recent months, Israel has intercepted multiple Gaza-bound aid ships in international waters.
In June, Israeli forces seized the Madleen, detaining 12 international activists including Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and French Member of European Parliament Rima Hassan. A month earlier, the MV Conscience was attacked by drones near Malta.
Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza for 18 years, and since March 2 has shut down all crossings, blocking the entry of aid convoys and ignoring international calls to reopen them.
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 133 people have died of starvation since October 2023, including 87 children.
On Tuesday, the World Food Program warned that one-third of Gaza’s population had gone several days without eating due to the continued Israeli blockade.
Rejecting international calls for a ceasefire, the Israeli army has pursued a brutal offensive on Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, killing over 59,700 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The relentless bombardment has destroyed the enclave and led to food shortages.
Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
