Israel threatened Saturday to board a ship carrying aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the blocked Gaza Strip, after the vessel refused calls to sail instead to the Israeli port of Ashdod, DPA reported.
"If necessary, if the ship won't change course, we'll have no choice," Israeli military spokeswoman Lieutenant Colonel Avital Leibowitz told the German Press Agency dpa, when asked if boarding the Rachel Corrie was an option.
The ship had rejected three requests to sail to Ashdod, about 30 kilometres north of the Strip and unload its cargo there, for transfer to the salient after inspection, the Israel military said.
Israeli naval vessels began shadowing the aid vessel early Saturday morning, when it was several dozen kilometres off the coast.