‘Ditch the phones': Israel boards Gaza charity boat with Greta Thunberg on board
'You should turn back'
On Sunday, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the boat to be stopped and that no one would be allowed to break the naval blockade of Gaza, which he said was aimed at preventing Hamas from importing arms.
'To the antisemitic Greta and her fellow Hamas propagandists, I will say this clearly: 'You should turn back because you will not make it to Gaza',' Katz said in a statement.
The British-flagged vessel left Sicily a week ago with 12 people on board, including Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European parliament who is of Palestinian descent.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said its aim was to break the blockade and deliver a token amount of aid, while raising awareness over the growing humanitarian crisis 20 months into the Israel-Hamas war.
After an 11-week blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel began to allow some basic aid into Gaza last month and set up a new distribution system using a controversial new aid group, but humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive.
Loading
On Sunday, the Israeli Army said it had recovered the body of Mohammed Sinwar, a senior Hamas commander who was killed in a May 13 airstrike at a Gaza hospital.
Sinwar's remains were found in a tunnel beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis in southern Gaza, according to the Israeli military.
Additional bodies were found at the site and were being examined, the military said.
Hamas has yet to acknowledge the death of Sinwar, the brother and successor of deceased Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attacks that triggered the devastating war in Gaza. Israeli forces killed Yahya Sinwar in October 2024.
Meanwhile, Palestinian health officials and witnesses said at least 12 people were killed and others wounded by Israeli fire in Gaza on Sunday as they headed towards two aid distribution points.
Israel's military said it fired warning shots at people who approached its forces.
The past two weeks have seen frequent shootings near the new aid hubs where thousands of Palestinians, desperate after 20 months of war, are being directed to collect food.
In all, at least 108 bodies were brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 24 hours, the territory's Health Ministry said. Israel's military said it had struck dozens of militant targets over the past day.
Loading
Hamas-led militants killed about 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages, more than half of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas is still holding 55 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead.
Israel's military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up most of the dead. It doesn't say whether those killed are civilians or combatants.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of the territory's population, leaving people there almost completely dependent on international aid.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Perth Now
32 minutes ago
- Perth Now
US reduces staffers in Middle East as tensions rise
The United States is drawing down the presence of staffers who are not deemed essential to operations in the Middle East and their loved ones due to the potential for regional unrest, the State Department and military say. The State Department said it has ordered the departure of all non-essential personnel from the US embassy in Baghdad based on its latest review and a commitment "to keeping Americans safe, both at home and abroad". The embassy already had been on limited staffing, and the order will not affect a large number of personnel. The department, however, also is authorising the departure of non-essential personnel and family members from Bahrain and Kuwait. That gives them the option of leaving those countries at government expense and with government assistance. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth "has authorised the voluntary departure of military dependents from locations" across the region, US Central Command said in a statement. The command "is monitoring the developing tension in the Middle East". Tensions in the region have risen in recent days as talks between the US and Iran over its rapidly advancing nuclear program appear to have hit an impasse. The talks seek to limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions that the US has imposed on the Islamic Republic. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. The next round of talks - the sixth - is tentatively scheduled for this weekend in Oman, but US officials said it looked increasingly unlikely that the talks would happen. President Donald Trump, who has previously said Israel or the US could carry out air strikes targeting Iranian nuclear facilities if negotiations failed, gave a less-than-optimistic view about reaching a deal with Iran, telling the New York Post's Pod Force One podcast that he was "getting more and more less confident about" a deal. "They seem to be delaying, and I think that's a shame ... Something happened to them," he said in the interview recorded on Monday. Iran's mission to the UN posted on social media that "threats of overwhelming force won't change the facts". "Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon, and US militarism only fuels instability," the Iranian mission wrote. Iranian Defence Minister General Aziz Nasirzadeh separately told journalists on Wednesday that he hoped talks with the US would yield results, though Tehran stood ready to respond. "If conflict is imposed on us, the opponent's casualties will certainly be more than ours, and in that case, America must leave the region, because all its bases are within our reach," he said. Earlier, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre, a Mideast-based effort overseen by the British navy, issued a warning to ships in the region that it "has been made aware of increased tensions within the region which could lead to an escalation of military activity having a direct impact on mariners". It did not name Iran, though those waterways have seen Iranian ship seizures and attacks in the past.

9 News
an hour ago
- 9 News
Bodies of two hostages recovered in Gaza
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here BREAKING Pentagon launches review of AUKUS pact The bodies of two deceased hostages were recovered from southern Gaza in a military operation , the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Shin Bet security agency announced earrly this morning. Yair Yaakov was killed during by Islamic Jihad militants during the Hamas-led terror attack on October 7, 2023. Yaakov, who was 59 years old at the time, was killed in Kibbutz Nir Oz and his body taken into Gaza. His partner, Meirav Tal, and two of his children were taken hostage and subsequently released during a previous hostage agreement. The body of Israeli hostage Yair Yaakov has been recovered in Gaza. (Hostages and Missing Families Forum) The body of an additional hostage has also been recovered, according to the IDF and Shin Bet, but the second name has not yet been made public at the request of the family. "Together with all the citizens of Israel, my wife and I extend our heartfelt condolences to the families who lost their dearest," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a statement. "Alongside the pain and mourning, we feel a measure of relief knowing that the two will be laid to rest with dignity – and that the unbearable suffering their loved ones have endured for 614 days may now be eased, if only slightly," said the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in a statement. "We repeat our demand to the decision-makers to reach a full and comprehensive agreement that will bring home all 53 remaining hostages – even if that requires ending the fighting." The recovery of these two bodies comes less than a week after the Israeli military recovered the bodies of Judy Weinstein-Haggai, 70, and Gadi Haggai, 72, who were also killed during the attack on Nir Oz. Last week, the Israeli military also recovered the body of Thai hostage Nattapong Pinta. Israel Hamas Conflict War military Gaza Israel Middle East World CONTACT US

Sky News AU
2 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Labor ‘out of control' by sanctioning Israeli ministers
Sky News host Andrew Bolt discusses the Albanese Labor government sanctioning two Israeli ministers. 'The hypocritical Albanese government really does hate Israel, doesn't it? It is acting like Greta Thunberg and has now hit two Israeli ministers with sanctions,' Mr Bolt said. 'But I want to know why, why this is in Australia's interest to act like useful idiots of radical Islam.'