AFP reports soldiers already on board The Estelle ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists seeking to break Israeli blockade on Gaza; CNN reports ships surround vessel; IDF yet to release statement.
A ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists looking to break the Israeli blockade on Gaza has "come under attack" after being approached by the navy, AFP quoted a spokeswoman of the Estelle ship as saying on Saturday.
"The Estelle is now under attack -- I have just had a message from them by phone," AFP quoted Victoria Strand, a Stockholm-based spokeswoman for the Ship to Gaza Sweden campaign as saying.
Palestinian activists told CNN Israeli ships have surrounded the vessel. The IDF have yet to comment on the report. The report follows the failure of diplomatic efforts to stop the ship, after Israel’s United Nations envoy Ron Prosor wrote UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week asking for international intervention to “stop the provocation” of a small ship sailing to Gaza.