Marianne ship en route to Ashdod port

The Swedish-registered Marianne of Gothenburg, a ship that was headed for the Gaza Strip overnight Sunday-Monday, is on its way to the Ashdod port after Israeli Navy commandos took control of the vessel earlier this morning.

The interception occurred without incident and there were no injuries, the IDF says.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated the commandos on “their determined and efficient action in detaining the passengers on the ship that tried to reach the Gaza coast in contravention of the law.”

Earlier, flotilla organizers said that three other boats accompanying the Marianne had turned back to their ports of origin, without explaining why, and that the Marianne was sailing toward Gaza on its own.

There were 18 activists and journalists aboard the Marianne, including the former Tunisian president Moncef Marzouki and Arab-Israeli Knesset member Basel Ghattas.

In May 2010, Israeli commandos intercepted the Turkish-flagged Mavi Marmara, the largest ship in a flotilla dispatched to Gaza by the Turkish relief agency Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH), and were violently attacked by those on board, with several soldiers seriously injured. Nine Turkish citizens were killed when the commandos opened fire in what Israel said was self-defense, and one more died last year from injuries sustained in the incident.