Tom Hayes, 69, whom OU confirmed is an associate professor at the university, was aboard the vessel „Conscience“ when it was intercepted by the Israeli navy at around 6 p.m. UTC time on Oct. 8, according to the Freedom Flotilla Tracker, an open-source tool that has been tracking vessels attempting to break the siege around war-torn Gaza.

The vessel was intercepted and taken to the Israeli city of Ashdod, according to the tracker. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, a grassroots group that organized the humanitarian trip, said in a press release Oct. 8 that the Conscience was boarded by Israeli Defense Forces.