Boat carrying Greta Thunberg to Gaza intercepted by Israeli Navy
Israeli naval forces on Monday intercepted the vessel carrying Swedish national Greta Thunberg and other activists to the Gaza Strip.
Calling it the 'selfie yacht' of 'celebrities,' Israel's Foreign Ministry said the 12 passengers had been given sandwiches and water and were being safely transported to the shores of the Jewish state. 'The show is over' and the activists will be sent back to their home countries, the ministry said.
All the passengers of the 'selfie yacht' are safe and unharmed. They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over.
pic.twitter.com/tLZZYcspJO
While the ministry posted a picture of Thunberg being offered a sandwich, stating she was 'on her way to Israel, safe and in good spirits,' the keffiyeh-clad climate activist claimed in a video message that they were 'kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel.'
Terrorists in Gaza currently hold 56 hostages — both alive and deceased — 55 of the 251 kidnapped during the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, and the remains of IDF Lt. Hadar Goldin, killed in action in the Strip in 2014.
SOS! the volunteers on 'Madleen' have been kidnapped by Israeli forces.
Greta Thunberg is a Swedish citizen.
Pressure their foreign ministries and help us keep them safe!
Web:
https://t.co/uCGmx8sn8j
X :
@SweMFA
FB :
@SweMFA
IG : swedishmfa
#AllEyesOnMadeleen
pic.twitter.com/76Myrg2Bnz
Half of the passengers are French. On Monday, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot confirmed that Paris had warned citizens of the risks involved in joining the protest flotilla and said that the consulate had requested Israel grant consular protection to the detainees.
Meanwhile, Madrid summoned the Israeli chargé d'affaires to protest the seizure. One Spanish national was listed as a passenger.
The other nationalities represented were one each from Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Turkey.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) called the interception 'a blatant act of international piracy and state terrorism.' Iran also condemned the intervention as 'a form of piracy,' since it happened in international waters.
Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the military to show the activist group a 43-minute video of atrocities committed by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 massacre, which sparked the war in Gaza.
'It's appropriate that Greta the antisemite and her Hamas-supporting friends see exactly who the terror group Hamas is, what atrocious acts they carried out against women, the elderly and children, and who Israel is fighting to defend against,' said Katz.
He ordered the video to be screened for the group upon their arrival at the Port of Ashdod, where their boat was towed after Israeli troops boarded the vessel.
The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was attempting to deliver a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the Gaza population.
'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. In addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza,' said the Foreign Ministry.
'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,' the ministry added.
In an earlier post, the ministry emphasized that Israel's blockade of Gaza is legal under international law, and that the Gaza maritime zone is an active conflict area, which Hamas terrorists have previously exploited for attacks, including the Oct. 7 massacre.
'Unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts. We call on all actors to act responsibly and to channel humanitarian aid through legitimate, coordinated mechanisms, not through provocation,' the ministry stated.
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza's Palestinian population.
After a two and a half-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but some humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive.
With additional reporting by The Associated Press
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