logo
Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg, officials say

Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg, officials say

USA Today7 hours ago

Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg, officials say
Show Caption
Hide Caption
Climate activist Greta Thunberg sets sail for Gaza to deliver aid
"We have to keep trying." Climate activist Greta Thunberg set sail to deliver aid to Gaza just weeks after a similar mission was thwarted by bombs.
JERUSALEM, June 9 (Reuters) - Israeli forces have taken command of a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and the boat with its crew of 12 including activist Greta Thunberg is now heading to a port in Israel, officials said on Sunday.
The British-flagged yacht Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there.
However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on its Telegram account. The Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control.
More: US vetoes UN Security Council demand for Gaza ceasefire
"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," the ministry wrote on X.
All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry later added. "They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over."
Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
"The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 a.m.," Hassan posted on X. A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air.
More: Greta Thunberg sailing to Gaza on aid ship after drone attack setback
The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. The Foreign Ministry said it would be taken to Gaza. "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 wrote.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.
Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally.
Gaza's health ministry says over 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military campaign. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza's more than 2 million residents are facing famine.
The Israeli government says the blockade is essential to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas.
The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Sunday, urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.
"Madleen's journey may have ended, but the mission isn't over. Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid & solidarity to Gaza," she wrote on X.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray; Editing by Richard Chang and Lincoln Feast.)

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

U.S., Chinese delegates in London to talk trade, rare earths
U.S., Chinese delegates in London to talk trade, rare earths

Yahoo

time23 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

U.S., Chinese delegates in London to talk trade, rare earths

June 9 (UPI) -- Delegates from the United States and China are set to meet Monday in London after a phone call between the nations' leaders seemingly led to a cooling of tensions related to their otherwise heated recent trade dispute. "We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks," said a British government spokesperson. The U.K. has provided the space for the countries to chat but hasn't publicly disclosed its location. American attendees are slated to include U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, while Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng will lead his country's delegation. It is expected the discussion will put a fair amount of focus on the rare earth minerals situation. The Trump administration had expected China to back down on export restrictions it had imposed in April on such minerals after talks held in May. China imposed those restrictions in response to tariffs levied by Trump on Chinese goods. The resulting trade disruption has led to a 2.9% decrease on exports to the United States from April to May, the decrease from May 2024 is 3.4% and the cumulative year-on-year decrease from January to May is at 4.9%, according to Chinese customs data. However President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on the phone last week, and the conversation was reportedly so friendly it not only led to Monday's meeting but each invited the other to make a personal visit. American and Chinese representatives had met last month in Geneva and reportedly reached an agreement to suspend most of the tariffs that had been reciprocally imposed, but both countries have since been accused of agreement violations by the other.

Czech court sentences Colombian to 8 years for arson attack which officials think is tied to Russia
Czech court sentences Colombian to 8 years for arson attack which officials think is tied to Russia

Yahoo

time23 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Czech court sentences Colombian to 8 years for arson attack which officials think is tied to Russia

PRAGUE (AP) — A court in the Czech capital sentenced a Colombian national to eight years in prison on Monday for an arson attack and planning another one, in a case which authorities believe may be linked to Russia. Prague's Municipal Court also ordered Andrés Alfonso de la Hoz de la Cruz to pay damages worth 115,000 koruna ($5,300). The court approved a plea agreement between prosecutors and the defendant, who pleaded guilty. The 26-year-old Colombian was arrested a year ago after setting ablaze three Prague public buses at a depot at night. The court said that he recorded what he did and left. Local workers managed to extinguish the fire. The court said the man received orders on the Telegram messaging app and was promised $3,000. He was also planning one more attack, possibly at a movie theater in Prague. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala previously said the failed arson attack was likely part of Russia's hybrid war against his country. Czechia, which is more widely known in English as the Czech Republic, is a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its fight against Russia's full scale-invasion. Western officials have accused Russia and its proxies of staging dozens of attacks and other incidents across Europe since Moscow launched all-out war on Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, according to data collected by The Associated Press. They allege the disruption campaign is an extension of Russian President Vladimir Putin's war, intended to sow division in European societies and undermine support for Ukraine. ___ Follow the AP's coverage of the war at

IAEA chief says information obtained by Iran 'seem to refer' to Israeli nuclear research site
IAEA chief says information obtained by Iran 'seem to refer' to Israeli nuclear research site

Yahoo

time23 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

IAEA chief says information obtained by Iran 'seem to refer' to Israeli nuclear research site

VIENNA (AP) — The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday that the information Iran claimed it seized regarding Israel's nuclear program 'seems to refer' to the country's Soreq Nuclear Research Center, the first acknowledgment outside of Tehran of the theft. The office of Israel's prime minister had no immediate response on the remarks by IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who spoke during a news conference in Vienna. The alleged theft comes at a time of renewed tensions over Iran's nuclear program, which enriches uranium a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels and looks poised to reject a U.S. proposal over a possible deal on its atomic program. 'We have seen some reports in the press. We haven't had any official communication about this," Grossi told reporters. "In any case, this seems to refer to Soreq, which is a research facility which we inspect by the way. We don't inspect other strategic parts of the program, but this part of the program we do inspect." He did not elaborate on where he received his information, though the IAEA maintains a confidential reporting system for nations to report security incidents involving their nuclear programs. Soreq, located 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of Tel Aviv, is a national laboratory for nuclear science established in Israel in 1958, engaged in nuclear science, radiation safety and applied physics. The IAEA has so-called 'item-specific safeguards agreements' with Israel, Pakistan and India, all countries that are not party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Under Israel's agreement, the IAEA monitors Soreq but has no access to Israel's nuclear facility at Dimona, believed to provide the fuel for Israel's undeclared nuclear weapons program. Over the weekend Iranian state television and later the country's intelligence minister claimed without offering evidence that Tehran seized an 'important treasury' of information regarding Israel's nuclear program. Israel, whose undeclared atomic weapons program makes it the only country in the Mideast with nuclear bombs, has not acknowledged any such Iranian operation targeting it — though there have been arrests of Israelis allegedly spying for Tehran amid the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Iranian Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib claimed thousands of pages of documents had been obtained which would be made public soon. Among them were documents related to the U.S., Europe and other countries which, he claimed, had been obtained through 'infiltration' and 'access to the sources.' He did not elaborate on the methods used. However, Khatib, a Shiite cleric, was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in 2022 over directing 'cyber espionage and ransomware attacks in support of Iran's political goals.' For Iran, the claim may be designed to show the public that the theocracy was able to respond to a 2018 Israeli operation that spirited out what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as a 'half ton' of documents related to Iran's program. That Israeli announcement came just before President Donald Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew America from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which greatly limited its program in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. This week, Western nations are expect to go before the IAEA's Board of Governors with a proposal to find Iran in noncompliance with the United Nations' nuclear watchdog. It could be the first time in decades — and likely would kick the issue to the U.N. Security Council. That could see one of the Western countries involved in the 2015 nuclear deal invoke the so-called 'snapback' of U.N. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. The authority to restore those sanctions by the complaint of any member of the original 2015 nuclear deal expires in October — putting the West on a clock to exert pressure on Tehran over its program before losing that power. ___ Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press receives support for nuclear security coverage from the Carnegie Corporation of New York and Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. ___ Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape:

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store