Israeli Forces Intercept Greta Thunberg's Gaza-Bound Aid Boat, Diverts It

The Israeli forces have intercepted the humanitarian ship carrying climate activist and French Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Rima Hassan in the early hours of Monday.

Hassan, in a series of posts on X, has claimed that the crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 am.

In a photo shared by the activist, the Member of European Parliament (MEP) and others are seen sitting in life jackets with their hands up.

Freedom Flotilla Coalition

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group behind the campaign, has announced via Telegram that contact had been lost with the vessel Madleen, and the Israeli army has boarded the vessel, according to a report in AFP.

It has stated that the vessel Madleen was carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula.

On the other hand, the Israeli Foreign Ministry has referred to the Madleen vessel as a "selfie yacht of the celebrities", which is safely making its way to the shores of Israel.

Israel's Reaction

"The "selfie yacht" of the "celebrities" is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries. While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity - and which included less than a single truckload of aid - more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza," the Ministry stated in a post on X.

"There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip - they do not involve Instagram selfies. The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the "celebrities" will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it added.

Earlier, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz warned that it would take all necessary measures to prevent Madleen from reaching Gaza and ordered the Israeli military to stop the ship to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas militants in Gaza.

Calling Tel Aviv's decision to halt the ship illegal, the FFC said that the minister's remarks was as an example of Israel threatening the unlawful use of force against civilians and "attempting to justify that violence with smears".