BOMBARDMENT OF UKRAINE AND GAZA GOES ON AS U.S SHUTS DOWN

ACTIVISTS on board a flotilla sailing toward Gaza said last night that the Israeli navy has begun boarding their vessels as they approach the besieged Palestinian territory.

- BY OWEN CONLON and CHRIS HUGHES

The Global Sumud Flotilla – with Greta Thunberg and Nelson Mandela's grandson Mandla Mandela aboard alongside Irish activists including comedian Tadhg Hickey - consists of nearly 50 boats and 500 activists and is carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid.

It has remained undeterred in its mission to break the Israeli blockade of the coastal strip and reach Palestinians.

Israeli authorities last night said the activists on board the boats it intercepted, including Thunberg, were safe and being transferred to Israel.

Greg Stoker, an American veteran aboard one of the boats in the flotilla, said around a dozen naval vessels with their transponders off had approached it.

"They are currently hailing our vessels, telling us to turn off our engines and await further instructions or our boats will be seized and we will face the consequences," he said in a shaky video posted on Instagram while wearing a red life jacket.