Israeli navy boards Gaza blockade vessel

The Israeli navy boarded a yacht in the Mediterranean yesterday to prevent 10 Jewish activists sailing to the Gaza Strip to protest against Israel's blockade.

Israeli naval forces boarded the Irene "without incident" 20 miles off the Gaza coast, the military said. The vessel was being towed to an Israeli port.

The voyage was organised by Jews for Justice for Palestinians, which is based in London. Those on board included an 82-year-old Holocaust survivor Reuven Moskovitz and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli whose daughter, Smadar, was killed by a Palestinian suicide bomber in 1997.