Tel Aviv, Oct. 2 -- The Israeli Navy intercepted the 47-ship flotilla on Wednesday after it attempted to breach its maritime blockade of Gaza, after refusing repeated IDF calls for the vessels to turn back.
Boarding the ships, naval troops detained hundreds of activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, former South African President Nelson Mandela's grandson, Mandla Mandela, former Barcelona Mayor Ada Colau, and several European lawmakers, reports Times of Israel.
As per the IDF - the flotilla - dubbed the 'Global Sumud Flotilla' - had ignored Tel Aviv's repeated warnings to change course and head toward Israel's Port of Ashdod.
Early Thursday, a unit of the Israeli Naval special forces - Shayetet 13 - had boarded more than ...