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| Estelle intercepted: Israel navy stops Gaza-bound boat | Estelle intercepted: Israel navy stops Gaza-bound boat |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Israeli navy has intercepted a boat of pro-Palestinian activists trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip. | The Israeli navy has intercepted a boat of pro-Palestinian activists trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip. |
| The Finnish-flagged Estelle left Naples on 7 October with some 20 people of eight different nationalities aboard. | The Finnish-flagged Estelle left Naples on 7 October with some 20 people of eight different nationalities aboard. |
| Israel imposed the blockade after the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the coastal sliver in 2007. | Israel imposed the blockade after the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the coastal sliver in 2007. |
| An IDF spokesperson confirmed the navy had boarded the ship and that no-one had been injured, but provided few further details. | |
| The boat was boarded 30 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, activists said, and was then being taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod. | |
| Restricted movements | |
| The Estelle, which is reportedly carrying a cargo including cement and medical supplies, is the latest vessel to try and break the Gaza blockade. | |
| It comes two years after nine Turkish activists were killed in an Israeli navy raid on the Mavi Marmara, one of a flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade. | |
| Palestinians say Israel's blockade of the Gaza Strip amounts to collective punishment to residents of the densely populated strip of land along the Mediterranean coast. | |
| Israel says the blockade aims to stop the supply of arms or other items for military use, and to put pressure on the Hamas administration. | |
| International pressure following the deadly 2010 interception led Israel to ease its blockade, allowing more food products into the strip. | |
| The movement of people and construction materials - such as cement and steel cables - is still heavily restricted. | |
| The importing of all weapons and military materials is banned, along with dual-use materials such as fertilisers and certain chemicals. | |
| Fishermen may only operate in a strip of water up to three nautical miles from the shore. |