The vessel is already fewer than 150 miles from its destination, say the activists from the Free Gaza movement.

However, communication with the ship remains difficult.

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said they suspected it was a result of sabotage by Israeli authorities.
This comes after Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told senior
Cabinet ministers late Thursday that no vessel would be allowed to break
the blockade of Gaza.

The activists on board “Rachel Corrie” rejected Israeli calls to change course and dock in the southern port of Ashdod.

“All of us on our boats unequivocally state that we will never go into any Israeli port, except by force,” Mary Hughes, a
spokeswoman for Free Gaza, told the German Press-Agency DPA.

The Associated Press quotes an Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate on the ship, Mairead Corrigan, as saying the activists are resolved to
press on but would offer no resistance if Israeli forces came aboard.

"They will probably arrest us … But there will be no resistance,'' she told The Associated Press in a telephone
interview.

“Rachel Corrie” is trying to deliver hundreds of tons of aid, including wheelchairs, medical supplies and concrete to the
conflict-torn region.