Lawyers for the crew of the civilian aid ship the 'Madleen' have accused Israel of breaching international law, storming the vessel off the coast of Egypt and arresting the crew in the early hours of the morning.
The ship was trying to break Israel's blockade of Gaza by sea, and had been carrying a symbolic amount of aid when it was intercepted by Israeli forces.
The Freedom Flotilla, the group that organised the voyage, and the crew's Israel-based lawyers said the ship was seized in international waters.
[EL YOUTUBE: Israel intercepts ship]They argued the crew, including 22-year-old Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, should not have been taken to Israeli soil simply to be deported.
"We're basically talking about people who were sailing in the international waters, and then Israel basically captured them and abducted them into Israel," lawyer Hadeel Abu Salih said.
"And even the legal procedure they are willing to take does not apply to them, because they are talking about illegal people who entered Israel illegally.
"But the situation we're talking about now is a situation that Israel brought those people inside of Israel, and now they want to deport them based on the claims that they entered Israel illegally."
Ms Abu Salih made the remarks outside Ashdod Port, about halfway between Gaza and Israel's major population centre of Tel Aviv, where the Madleen was expected to be taken.
Israeli media reported the ship docked under the cover of darkness, almost 18 hours after being seized.
In a social media post at 10pm, local time, on Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry confirmed the ship had docked at Ashdod Port "a short while ago".
"The passengers are currently undergoing medical examinations to ensure they are in good health," the ministry said.
Israel had 'obligation', former IDF lawyer says
Former Israel Defense Forces (IDF) senior lawyer Eran Shamir-Borer rejected the claim Israel acted unlawfully.
He argued Israel had imposed a naval blockade on Gaza since 2009.
"Once a naval blockade has been imposed there is a right, even an obligation, to enforce it," he told the ABC.
"Enforcing could be done not just with respect to an actual breach of such a blockade, but also if is an attempted breach.
"An attempted breach could be decided by way of the intention, declared intentions, stated intentions of those involved in the flotilla, those on board the vessel, and then you could just enforce this also on the high seas, actually from the moment when they have made their intentions clear that they want to breach a lawful naval blockade."
Dr Shamir-Borer, now a director at the Israel Democracy Institute, insisted the naval blockade was also valid.
He cited an inquiry by the United Nations in 2011 chaired by former New Zealand prime minister Geoffrey Palmer, which found Israel was allowed to impose the measure to protect its security.
That probe was prompted by the 2010 Mavi Marmara attack, when nine people were killed as Israeli forces boarded a Turkish ship trying to deliver aid to Gaza.
Another UN inquiry, by the Human Rights Council a year earlier, had found the blockade was unlawful.
"Usually an enforcement of a naval blockade would take place on international waters, on the high seas the way that we call it under international law," Dr Shamir-Borer said.
Global protests support Madleen
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had revealed authorities would force the 12 members of the Madleen crew to watch a video of Hamas's deadly attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023.
The Israeli government's rhetoric about the ship sharpened in the hours after it was intercepted, labelling the crew "celebrities" seeking "selfies" for social media.
Before the interception, Greta Thunberg said the voyage was about highlighting the plight of the Palestinian population and not about the individuals involved.
Israeli authorities said the crew would be deported, but it was unclear how quickly that process would occur — particularly given direct flights to some destinations out of Tel Aviv were limited, given airlines' reluctance to fly into the city while Houthi rebels in Yemen continued to fire missiles at Israel.
Protests in support for the Madleen erupted around the world, including in Sydney.
In the UK, supporters rallied outside the British Foreign Office in London, hearing that all contact with the ship had been lost in the early hours of the morning.
"Our signals were cut, we had a variety of comms channels and all of them were attacked," Freedom Flotilla spokesperson James Godfrey said.
"We managed to broadcast for a little bit longer than maybe they anticipated. But they were attacked.
"Quadcopters [drones] appeared above us and they started spraying white chemicals over the boat and over the people, people took cover under some of the shelter as this bizarre white chemical got sprayed on them, strange noises were emitted by the quadcopters."
European leaders offer assistance
Six of the crew are French citizens, including Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan.
France's foreign minister said his country had sought assurances from Israel the crew members would be offered consular assistance after landing in Israel.
"We had warned the participants in this flotilla well in advance of the risks they were exposing themselves to," Jean-Noel Barrot said in Nice.
"But we also made our position very clear to the Israeli authorities to avoid any incident, and to inform them in advance of what we have since done — namely, express our intention to exercise our right to consular protection."
Sweden's foreign minister said her country was monitoring the situation.
"Currently, our assessment is that no-one on board is in danger and that there is therefore no need for consular support at this stage," she told Sweden's Parliament.
"However, we and the embassy in Tel Aviv are in contact with local authorities and are also following the situation closely.
"Should the need for consular assistance arise, we will assess how we can best help."
