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Israel Takes Seized Activist Vessel to Port of Ashdod

Madleen
IDF servicemembers hand out food and water to the activist detainees, June 9 (IDF)

Published Jun 9, 2025 2:55 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

The Israeli military has intercepted and boarded a sailing yacht with 12 activists in international waters, and has relocated the vessel and crew to the port of Ashdod for processing. 

The 60-foot sailing vessel Madleen was intercepted by Israeli special forces at a position off Egypt in the early hours of Monday morning (local time). Without a physical altercation, Israeli operatives boarded the vessel and took control of the situation on board. Now that the vessel has arrived in Ashdod, the activists will be provided with a viewing of footage of the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 for educational purposes, according to Israeli defense minister Israel Katz. 

The activists' original intent was to reach the shores of Gaza and deliver a symbolic amount of food and medical aid to local residents. Gaza has not received full-scale food imports since early March because of certain border control factors, and the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC, the UN's reference system for degree of deprivation) classifies the food supply status in all areas of the territory as a Phase 4 nutrition "emergency," with risk of edging into famine. If the Madleen's voyage had been successful, it would have been a small but rare breach of Israel's naval cordon, which has successfully blocked unauthorized cargo flows to and from Gaza for nearly two decades. 

As is typical for all discussions of Gaza, opposing sides quickly began fighting over the narrative framing for the IDF's interdiction of the Madleen. Israel's supporters have described it as a justified security action to sustain the naval blockade of Gaza, and have attempted to portray the activists as publicity-hungry "antisemites." The activists' supporters have described the boarding in international waters as an act of state-sanctioned piracy, a category equivalent to Iran's vessel seizures in international waters of the Gulf of Oman. In a strongly-worded official statement, Turkey's foreign ministry went a step further, asserting that the intercept was evidence of malign intent in Israeli foreign policy.