Israel intercepts Gaza-bound aid ship, detaining Greta Thunberg and other prominent activists
By
Kareem Khadder, Mohammed Tawfeeq, Abeer Salman
and
Helen Regan
, CNN
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) said the Israeli military had "attacked" and "unlawfully boarded" the "Madleen," which was attempting to deliver aid to Gaza - where more than 600 days of war, and an 11-week Israeli blockade of all aid, has pushed the enclave's 2.1 million people deeper into a hunger crisis.
Climate activist Thunberg and Rima Hassan - a French member of the European Parliament - are among those on the "Madleen."
"(The vessel) is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a post on X early Monday local time.
Israel plans to bring the detained activists to Ashdod port and then through a "quick deportation process" via Ben-Gurion Airport, according to a source familiar with the matter. They are expected to arrive in Ashdod on Monday evening, local time.
The foreign ministry also posted a video showing members of the "Madleen" crew sitting side by side wearing orange life jackets while a solider offers them bottled water and plastic-wrapped sandwiches. Thunberg can be seen sitting near the front of the group.
The FFC had earlier said the ship had come "under assault in international waters," in a Telegram post.
"Quadcopters are surrounding the ship, spraying it with a white paint-like substance. Communications are jammed, and disturbing sounds are being played over the radio," the FFC said. A video posted by Israel's foreign ministry appeared to show a Navy staffer sending a radio message to the vessel saying the "maritime zone off the coast of Gaza was closed."
In a video livestreamed from the boat, activist Yasemin Acar showed a white substance on the deck, saying it had been dropped on the vessel. Acar was later heard saying it was affecting her eyes.
The FFC group also posted a video on Telegram, showing members of the crew sitting inside the boat with their hands in the air.
After losing communication with the vessel, the FFC began posting pre-recorded video messages from Thunberg and others onboard. "If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel," Thunberg said in her video.
In a statement, the FFC said Israel had acted with "total impunity" and that the vessel's cargo, which included baby formula, food and medical supplies was "confiscated." Israel said it would transfer the goods to Gaza through humanitarian channels.
"Israel has no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard the Madleen," said Huwaida Arraf, human rights attorney and Freedom Flotilla organizer. "This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the (International Court of Justice's) binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza."
Israel had repeatedly vowed to stop the aid boat from reaching Gaza, and described the ship as a "selfie yacht" carrying "celebrities."
"I have instructed the IDF to ensure that the 'Madleen' flotilla does not reach Gaza," Israeli defense minister Israel Katz said on Sunday.
After the flotilla crew members were detained, Katz said in a post on X that he had instructed the military to screen videos of the Hamas attacks on Israel from 7 October, 2023 to the activists upon their arrival at Ashdod Port.
Israel's foreign ministry said the group "attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity."
"There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip - they do not involve Instagram selfies," it added.
In an earlier statement on Monday, the ministry said "unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts."
The French foreign ministry said on Monday that there were six French nationals on board the "Madleen," and that it is in contact with Israeli authorities to bring them back. The French government had previously warned the activists against their plan "due to the risks involved," a statement from the ministry added.
An Élysée source told CNN that France's President Emmanuel Macron "has requested that arrangements be made, as quickly as possible, for the return" of its nationals.
The foreign ministry statement also called on the Israeli government to allow "immediate, large-scale, and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to Gaza."
Hamas demanded the immediate release of the activists and condemned their detention in a statement, calling the interception "a flagrant violation of international law, and an attack on civilian volunteers acting out of humanitarian motives."
As the "Madleen" was taken to Ashdod, some 15 activists protested the ship's seizure in the city. The demonstrators carried signs reading, "resist genocide," "release the Madleen activists now" and "stop state terror."
"We… have come to express our support and solidarity with the Madleen as part of the Freedom Flotilla, whose activists were abducted by Israel," one activist is heard saying in English.
The demonstrators were interrupted by a passerby who shouted in Hebrew, "You're living in Israel," calling the protesters "bullies" and "hooligans."
The "Madleen" is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an organisation that has campaigned against Israel's blockade of Gaza and tried to break the siege by boat.
The crew, which had publicised the location of the ship with an online tracker, began preparing for the possibility of interception by the Israeli military. On Monday morning, the UK-flagged civilian vessel was north of Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea, slowly approaching the coast of Gaza, but the tracker has since appeared to have stopped.
"We know that it's a very risky mission and we know that previous experiences with flotillas like this have resulted in attacks, violence and even cases of death," Thunberg told CNN on Saturday.
Israel imposed a full humanitarian blockade of Gaza on 2 March, cutting off food, medical supplies, and other aid to the more than 2 million Palestinians who live in the territory for 11 weeks.
Faced with growing international pressure, Israel began allowing a trickle of aid in late May. But humanitarian organisations say it is only a fraction of the aid that entered the enclave before the war, and have warned of a worsening humanitarian crisis and the growing risk of widespread famine. A UN-backed report warned in late April that one in five people were facing starvation.
Dozens of Palestinians have been killed over the past week while on their way to try and obtain aid from a new US-backed group commissioned to deliver aid to Gaza, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The group is intended to replace the UN-led system of distributing aid in Gaza. The United Nations has warned that the new distribution mechanism has become a "death trap" for desperate people seeking food in the strip.
Last month, another vessel from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition came under what its organisers claimed was an Israeli drone attack off the coast of Malta in international waters. The group did not provide evidence that the drone was Israeli, while the Israeli military has declined to comment on the alleged attack.
The ship, the "Conscience," was heading to Malta, where a large contingent of activists, including Thunberg, were due to board before it departed for Gaza.
The later voyage on the "Madleen," which was intercepted by Israel, departed from Sicily last Friday.
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