An activist travelling on the "Rachel Corrie" ship says everyone aboard the vessel is determined to break the Israeli-imposed siege of the Gaza Strip.
"We are not afraid," Mairead Corrigan-Maguire told Ireland's RTE state radio on Friday from the Rachel Corrie, which is carrying 11 human rights activist, PRESS TV reported according to AFP.
The three-year Israeli-imposed blockade on the Gaza Strip has deprived the coastal sliver's nearly-1.5-million population of food, fuel and other necessities.
The 66-year-old activists described the Israeli blockade as "cruel" and said that "it is breaking international laws and human rights. Our concern is to try to open up the people of Gaza to the world."
Hamas says the vessel will reach Gaza tonight.
Israeli forces attacked the multinational Freedom Flotilla relief convoy, carrying 10,000 tons of humanitarian supplies, on Monday. The attack left at least 20 people killed, Palestinian sources say.
Maguire said, "We do know that one of the suggestions that seems to be coming is Israel thinks that we would take this boat and its cargo to Ashdod. But we have no intention of going to Ashdod which is in Israel."
"We started out to deliver this cargo to the people of Gaza and to break the siege of Gaza, that is what we want to do," she added.
Maguire, who has won a Nobel Peace Prize for her peace efforts in Northern Ireland, has once been detained by Israel for trying to break the siege along with a group of fellow activists.