Humanitarian Care Malaysia (MyCARE), in a statement, has confirmed the ship and crew members as well as the activists, including Malaysia’s sole representative, Dr Fauziah Mohd Hassan, were detained at 2.58pm (8.58pm Malaysia time).

“The Zaytouna is expected to be towed by the Israeli military to the port of Ashdod,” according to the statement.

Dr Fauziah, with other delegates, participated in the mission dubbed ‘Women’s Boat to Gaza’ (WBG) to challenge the Israeli blockade on Gaza after the land routes to the strip were blocked by Israel and Egypt.

The other delegates were from Tunisia, Israel, Algeria, Canada, Turkey, United States, Sweden, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia to symbolise universal solidarity with the people of Palestine.

The Zaytouna Oliva, which carried the 13 delegates, set sail at 8pm on Sept 14 (Barcelona time) from Port Vell and stopped at Ajaccio (first leg of the journey) on Sept 19 before proceeding to Messina (second leg of the journey).

MyCare said it would hold a press conference on the matter today.