“I regret the fact that the Israeli Naval forces are forced to be diverted from their primary mission of fighting terrorism, and must deal instead with a strange mission like this of a yacht that has no connection to humanitarian aid and is nothing other than a provocation.”

"The boat’s cargo includes symbolic aid in the form of children’s toys and musical instruments, textbooks, fishing nets for Gaza’s fishing communities and prosthetic limbs for orthopaedic medical care in Gaza’s hospitals. The receiving organization in Gaza is The Palestinian International Campaign to end the siege on Gaza, directed by Dr. Eyad Sarraj and Amjad Shawa, Director of PNGO The boat will attempt to reach the coast of Gaza and unload its aid cargo in a nonviolent, symbolic act of solidarity and protest – and call for the siege to be lifted to enable free passage of goods and people to and from the Gaza Strip."

"... called the activists' claim to be bringing aid to Gaza "ridiculous" and labeled the voyage "a politically motivated provocation.""

But Israel intercepted the Irene and detained the boat, the supplies and the passengers. The passengers were sailing under a British flag, reported Al Jazeera , and they came from the United States, Europe and Israel. The Irene was boarded by the Israeli military on Tuesday after failing to comply with two warnings reported The Hindu Israel Defence (IDF) issued a press release stating their forces successfully boarded the Irene without anyone incurring an injury. Speaking to Israel Radio after the IDF the Irene had been seized, Brigadier Geneneral Avi Benayahu saidThe IDF said that diverting their forces from missions meant to deal with terrorism created a security issue for Israel. The Irene and its passengers and aid were taken to the port city of Ashod.The Irene had set sail for Gaza on September 26, according to a press release . The yacht left from Cypress, and one of the passengers was a Jewish journalist. The release statesThe IDF told the Jerusalem Post that the aid supplies would be delivered to Gaza. All that is known of what happened to the passengers was that when the yacht was boarded, they were handcuffed and their cell phones were taken away. The yacht was close to reaching Gaza, and was less than 20 miles from shore when it was boarded said a press release from the aid organizers.Israel has expressed anger over the attempt to break the blockade. The Jerusalem Post reported an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman hadOf the passengers on board the Irene, an Israeli senior citizen, Reuven Moskovitzone is a Holocaust survivor. Another Israeli resident, Rami Elhanan lost a daughter in a suicide bombing carried out by a Palestinian in Israel in 1997. Now a US citizen, senior Lilian Rosengarten had successfully fled Nazi Germany. Yonatan Shapira had served with the Israel military, but now is a peace activist. His brother, Itamar Shapira, was also a passenger. German resident, Dr. Edith Lutz is a nurse and peace activist who sailed on the very first boat to Gaza in 2008.The rest of the crew consisted of two journalists: Israel's Channel 10 reporter, Eli Osherov and Vish Vishvanath, a freelancer. The final person on board was the British citizen and Jewish captain of the yacht, Glyn Secker BBC News reported the activist passengers had told the media earlier that they were being followed by Israeli war ships. The organizers, UK based Jews for Justice for Palestinians are lobbying for the safe release of the two British activists who were on board the Irene.People interested in learning more from the activists themselves can go to Jewish Boat to Gaza , a website that was set up for the mission.The incident-free boarding and capture of the Irene stands in stark contrast to the Israeli boarding of the Mavi Marmara in the May 2010 attempt to break the Gaza blockade by the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. That boarding resulted in the deaths of nine men.While Israel has claimed self-defence, an UN investigation of the deadly boarding of the Mavi is still underway. An earlier report made by the UN Human Rights Commission has concluded that Israel violated International Human Rights when it stopped the Gaza Freedom Flotilla.Another freedom flotilla is being planned, and the Ahlul Bayt News Agency has reported that over 500 Swiss activists have committed to participating in the flotilla. It is not yet known how many ships will be participating in the flotilla, which will set sail near the end of 2010, but Irish activists are planning on sending a ship, as are Canadian activists. Indybay reports that ships are also being organized from South Africa and India, as well as some middle eastern nations.