Activists on Gaza-bound vessels detained

Passengers are to be flown back to their countries Israeli authorities have detained pro-Palestinian activists on board the two "Freedom Waves to Gaza" vessels, foiling the latest attempt to break the four-year Israeli blockade of the territory. The ships were forced to sail into the Israeli port of Ashdod, where all 27 passengers were handed over to the authorities and taken to an Israeli detention facility near Tel Aviv.
Reports suggest that the first few personnel to board the ship were very aggressive, using tasters and water cannons until they realised the activists were non-violent.
They soon took the ships under control.
The Canadian vessel Tahrir and the Irish boat MV Saoirse were in international waters, between 64km to 96km off the Gaza coast, when they were intercepted and forced to head instead towards the southern city of Ashdod.
Once the vessels carrying activists, journalists and crew members from nine countries reached Ashdod, they were transferred to the custody of the Israeli police and immigration authorities.
They were to be held at the detention facility before being transported to an airport near Tel Aviv to be put on flights home.
The Israeli authorities said those who refuse to leave the country voluntarily would have access to a lawyer and 72 hours to appeal being sent home.
In a press release issued by organisers shortly after they said they had lost contact with the two boats, David Heap, a member of the steering committee on board the Tahrir, said the fact the boats had reached international waters was a "victory for the movement".
Both vessels were part of previous attempts to break the siege on the Gaza strip that was stalled when the Greek government refused to let a flotilla leave from its shores in July this year.
"We are closer to Gaza this time, and hope to get even closer the next time, until we reach our destination," said Heap.
"Despite economic blackmail, despite the previous outsourcing of the blockade to Greece, and despite Israel mobilising a significant portion of its navy to stop us, we are now even closer to reaching Gaza and breaking the blockade."
The two vessels left the port of Fethiye in southwest Turkey on Wednesday after Turkish authorities gave them permission to sail to the Greek island of Rhodes.
Sailing under the flag of the Comoros Islands, the Tahrir was carrying six activists, a captain and five journalists.
The Saoirse - sailing under the US flag but carrying mostly Irish nationals - has 15 passengers on board, none of whom were journalists.
Heap told Al Jazeera that the activists chose to leave from Fethiye because of the strained relations between Turkey and Israel.
"The Turkish government has been creating more distance from Israel diplomatically and we know there is support from Turkish society for what we are doing.
"Our judgment was that the Turkish state would not interfere with us if we didn’t make too much of a public issue of our plan to depart from there," Heap told Al Jazeera.