JERUSALEM: More than a dozen activists being held by Israel after their aid boat was intercepted en route to Gaza launched a hunger strike on Monday to protest their detention, according to a local NGO assisting them. At least five of the 21 passengers of the Freedom Flotilla vessel Handala have agreed to be summarily deported after the boat was stopped and boarded by the Israeli navy while attempting to break a military blockade of the war-ravaged Palestinian territory.

Pro-Palestinian group Freedom Flotilla Coalition says the vessel was trying to bring food aid to Gaza.

Journalist Tania Safi and human rights activist Robert Martin on board Freedom Flotilla Coalition vessel the Handala, group says