Gaza-Bound Activist Boat With Greta Thunberg On Board Intercepted by Israel
Activist Greta Thunberg aboard the Madleen, which departed from Sicily earlier in June to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.Israeli forces intercepted a sailboat carrying a group of activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, who planned to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli blockade on the enclave.
The Israeli foreign ministry said early Monday that the ship was 'safely making its way to the shores of Israel' and that the passengers were expected to return to their home countries. The ministry also posted a video of masked Israeli military personnel handing out sandwiches and bottled water to the activists.
'The maritime zone off the coast of Gaza is closed to unauthorized vessels under a legal naval blockade, consistent with international law,' the Israeli foreign ministry had earlier said in a social-media post.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the activist group that organized the boat, said Israeli forces had boarded the vessel just after 3 a.m. local time and detained those onboard. The coalition said the interception took place in international waters, posting a set of coordinates north of Egypt's Port Said near the entrance to the Suez Canal.
Earlier, activists on the vessel posted videos they said showed the boat being sprayed with an unidentified white substance. The activists gathered in a group holding their hands in the air after throwing their phones overboard, according to a video posted by the group.
Asked about the activists' claims, the Israeli military referred to statements from the foreign ministry.
The British-flagged 59-foot sailboat, nicknamed Madleen, departed from Sicily earlier in June carrying a cargo of baby formula, flour, rice, diapers, women's sanitary products, water desalination kits, and medical supplies, according to the coalition.
Also on board the boat were activists from Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Turkey, and Brazil. Among them is a French member of the European Parliament, Rima Hassan.
A previous attempted voyage to Gaza by a flotilla of aid ships in 2010 ended in an international fracas when Israeli commandos boarded the vessels, killing 10 Turkish activists on board.
The killings caused a rupture in Israel's ties with Turkey, a major Middle East power that was the first Muslim-majority country to recognize Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later apologized over the incident and Israel paid $20 million in compensation to the Turkish civilians who were killed.
Organizers of the new sea mission to Gaza said that while the ship is carrying a small amount of aid, the group's mission is a political attempt to challenge Israel's siege of Gaza and potentially open a maritime corridor for other ships to bring aid to the Gaza Strip. The enclave is seeing a humanitarian disaster unfold after a year and a half of war between Israel and the U.S.-designated terrorist group Hamas.
'We are doing this because we have to keep our promise to the Palestinians,' Thunberg said at the launch of the boat earlier in June.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which organized the 2010 flotilla and this year's boat, includes a range of pro-Palestinian activist groups from across the world, including the Free Gaza Movement, the European Campaign to End the Siege, and the Turkish nonprofit Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). The charity is seen as having ties to Turkey's ruling party.
The activists' attempt to sail to Gaza comes after a year in which the group struggled to get the mission under way.
The group attempted to sail last year from Turkey but was stymied when the African nation of Guinea-Bissau withdrew its flag of convenience from a pair of ships involved in the plan.
The new aid ship sailed as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening. Nearly half a million people in Gaza are facing starvation, according to a report in May by a U.N.-backed international famine warning system.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com
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