By Rami Amichai
ASHDOD, Israel (Reuters) - The Israeli navy boarded a yacht in the Mediterranean Tuesday to prevent 10 Jewish activists sailing to Gaza to protest against Israel's blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
Israel's policies for containing the militant Islamists of Hamas, who control Gaza, came under scrutiny in May after its marines killed nine Turkish activists in boarding one ship in a flotilla of six vessels trying to reach the Gaza coast.
That boarding occurred in international waters at night.
The catamaran Irene, dubbed the Jewish Boat for Peace and flying the Union Jack, was taken over around midday Tuesday without incident, a military statement said.
It was intercepted well off the Gaza Strip and within the 20-mile nautical zone that Israel defines as Gaza waters.
Navy video showed two navy speedboats closing alongside the catamaran and marines clambering aboard.
Reuters Television filmed the yacht sailing for the port of Ashdod under its own power, led by a small naval escort vessel. But it was docked out of sight of the media.
Five of the 10 activists were Israelis and the others came from Britain, Germany and the United States.
A handful of supporters carrying signs saying "Stop the Siege" and "No More Occupation" waved as two sealed vans took the activists from the port to an Ashdod police station.
"The Israeli nationals are being questioned by Israeli police and they will either be charged or released, depending on many factors such as previous criminal convictions," said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.
"All the foreigners will be deported."
HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR AMONG ACTIVISTS
They set sail from Cyprus Sunday, intent on defying the Israeli blockade of Gaza and highlighting the suffering of 1.5 million Palestinians who live in the territory.
"Israel doesn't have moral borders," said activist Reuven Moskovitz before leaving Cyprus. The Holocaust survivor, 82, said he was taking part "because I am a survivor. When I was in a ghetto and almost died I hoped there would be human beings who would show compassion and help."
The Irene's campaign attracted relatively little international attention. Israel dismissed it as a provocative stunt wasteful of the military's time and resources.
Israeli Defence Forces (military) chief spokesman Avi Benayahu deplored the fact that "naval forces and fighters are being diverted from our main mission" to "a surreal assignment" of intercepting a boatload of activists.
"Its entire intention was to generate media attention and (stage) a provocation. This matter is especially regrettable as we are talking about a group of Jews and of Israeli citizens, and even someone who has worn an IDF officer's uniform."
He was apparently referring to activist Yonatan Shapira, a former air force pilot and now a member of Combatants for Peace.
International condemnation of the flotilla deaths persuaded Israel to relax restrictions on what Gaza can import.
But it maintains the naval blockade in what it says is an effort to stop arms being smuggled to Hamas, which has run Gaza since 2007 and considers itself at war with Israel.
The Irene was carrying what the activists called a symbolic load of medicine, a water purifying kit and toys. Israel's army said the gifts would be screened and later turned over to Gaza.
Israeli activist Rami Elhanan told Israel radio before the yacht was boarded that they had no intention of resisting. "We are not violent people and it never occurred to us to use any form of force," said Elhanan, who lost his 14-year-old daughter Smadar to a Palestinian suicide bomber in 1997.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Nasr; Writing by Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
