ASHDOD - JUNE 9, 2025: The aid ship Madleen, loaded with vital humanitarian supplies for Gaza, reached Israel’s port of Ashdod on Monday evening under military escort, an Anadolu correspondent reported. The vessel arrived in Israel escorted by Israeli warships, the correspondent said. The aid ship bound for Gaza docked at Israel’s Ashdod Port after Israeli forces intercepted it and arrested all activists onboard, Israel’s public broadcaster KAN said. No details were shared about the condition of the activists on the Madleen ship. The British-flagged boat aimed to break a crippling blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza, where nearly 55,000 people have been killed in ongoing genocide since October 2023. Carrying an amount of aid, including food and baby formula, the ship was boarded by Israeli forces during the night before it could reach the Gaza shore and was towed to Ashdod Port in Israel. According to the Israel Hayom newspaper, Israeli authorities plan to hold the foreign activists in separate prison cells in the Givon Prison facility in Ramla in central Israel. The activists will be offered some tools and clothes, including hygiene materials that Palestinian prisoners are deprived of, the daily said. Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the prison authority not to allow any electronic devices, including radios or televisions, in the cells where the activists will be held, it added. Meanwhile, the Israeli human rights center Adalah demanded that Tel Aviv immediately disclose the whereabouts of the detained activists. It called the interception of the Gaza-bound aid ship by the Israeli forces and the forced detention of the activists onboard "illegal under international law." The rights group demanded guarantees of legal representation for the activists before the judiciary, stressing that it will take "legal steps" in the coming days to ensure their release. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said that the activists will be deported to their home countries, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan. Other activists aboard the Madleen aid ship include Yasemin Acar from Germany; Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi, and Reva Viard from France; Thiago Avila from Brazil; Suayb Ordu from Türkiye; Sergio Toribio from Spain; Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands; and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France. As Israel continued to close all Gaza’s border crossings to humanitarian aid since early March, aid agencies have warned about the risk of famine among Gaza’s 2.4 million population. Last November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war crimes against civilians in the enclave.