Greta Thunberg deported from Israel after seizure of Gaza-bound aid ship
Activist Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel Tuesday, the country's Foreign Ministry said, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on was seized by the Israeli military.
In a post on X, the Foreign Ministry shared a photo of Thunberg on a plane, saying she had departed Israel and was headed to France before continuing on to Sweden.
Adalah, a legal rights group in Israel representing Thunberg and the other activists, said Thunberg, two other activists and a journalist had agreed to be deported and leave Israel. Other activists refused deportation, were being held in detention and their case was set to be heard by Israeli authorities.
Thunberg was one of 12 passengers on board the Madleen, a boat carrying aid destined for people in war-torn Gaza.
Israeli naval forces seized the boat early Monday about 200 kilometres (125 miles) off of Gaza's coast, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organised the journey. The boat, accompanied by Israel's navy, arrived in the Israeli port of Ashdod Monday evening, according to Israel's Foreign Ministry.
The activists said they were protesting the ongoing war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Israel says such ships violate its naval blockade of Gaza.
Israel's Foreign Ministry portrayed the voyage as a public relations stunt, saying on social media that 'the 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel".
Turkey blasts 'heinous attack'
Video released Monday by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition showed the activists with their hands up as Israeli forces boarded the vessel, with one of them saying nobody was injured.
Turkey condemned the Israeli interception as a "heinous attack" and Iran denounced it as "a form of piracy" in international waters.
In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, was damaged in international waters off Malta as it headed to Gaza, with the activists saying they suspected an Israeli drone attack.
A 2010 Israeli commando raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was part of a similar attempt to breach the naval blockade, left 10 civilians dead.
Katz on Sunday said the blockade, in place for years before the Israel-Hamas war, was needed to prevent Palestinian militants from importing weapons.
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