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Israel has intercepted Estelle boat belonging to pro-Palestinian activists trying to break the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Finnish-flagged Estelle left Naples on 7 October with some 20 people of eight different nationalities aboard.

Israel imposed the blockade after the Islamist group Hamas seized control of the coastal sliver in 2007.

An IDF spokesperson confirmed the navy had boarded the ship and that no-one had been injured, but provided few further details.

The boat was boarded 30 nautical miles off the coast of Gaza, activists said, and was then being taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The Estelle, which is reportedly carrying a cargo including cement and medical supplies, is the latest vessel to try and break the Gaza blockade.

Estelle, which is reportedly carrying a cargo including cement and medical supplies, is the latest vessel to try and break the Gaza blockade

Estelle, which is reportedly carrying a cargo including cement and medical supplies, is the latest vessel to try and break the Gaza blockade

It comes two years after nine Turkish activists were killed in an Israeli navy raid on the Mavi Marmara, one of a flotilla of ships attempting to break the blockade.

Palestinians say Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip amounts to collective punishment to residents of the densely populated strip of land along the Mediterranean coast.

Israel says the blockade aims to stop the supply of arms or other items for military use, and to put pressure on the Hamas administration.

International pressure following the deadly 2010 interception led Israel to ease its blockade, allowing more food products into the strip.

The movement of people and construction materials – such as cement and steel cables – is still heavily restricted.

The importing of all weapons and military materials is banned, along with dual-use materials such as fertilizers and certain chemicals.

Fishermen may only operate in a strip of water up to three nautical miles from the shore.

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Israel Air Force has shot down a small unmanned aircraft after it entered the south of the country, the military has said.

Troops are searching for remains of the aircraft in the north of the Negev desert. It is not clear where it came from.

Local media quoted officials as saying the aircraft flew in from the west, but not from the Gaza Strip.

It was intercepted at around 10:00 local time.

The Israeli Defence Force said it was examining the aircraft’s flight path and whether it was being used for reconnaissance or for a potential act of terrorism.

However, Israeli radio quoted a military spokesman as saying it was not carrying explosives.

Correspondents say several small drones have penetrated Israeli territory in the past, but from the north.

On at least three occasions unmanned aircraft operated by the Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah were detected.

An Israeli navy ship was damaged by an explosive drone in July 2006.

Two others flew over part of northern Israel in 2004 and 2005 without being intercepted.

 

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