
Israeli forces take control of Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg
Israel's military took control of a boat trying to deliver food to Palestinians in Gaza in the early hours of Monday morning, and brought its crew of activists including Greta Thunberg to an Israeli port.
The Madleen was making a symbolic attempt to break to the blockade of Gaza and raise awareness of a looming 'starvation crisis'.
It was never likely to get through Israel's naval blockade of the territory, where UN-backed experts have warned of looming famine, and dozens of people have been killed by Israeli forces trying to reach food distribution centres.
Even attempting to reach Gaza by boat is risky. In May, another boat sailing as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organised the Madleen's voyage, caught fire off Malta and issued an SOS after what the group said was an attack by Israeli drones. Israel's military declined to comment.
In 2010, nine activists were killed when Israeli commandos raided a small fleet of ships trying to take supplies including building materials to Gaza. Israel began blockading Gaza in 2007.
Among the last communications from the Madleen before it lost communications was a photo showing the 12-strong crew gathered in a circle, wearing lifejackets, with their hands in the air.
It was posted to social media by a team working with the French MEP Rima Hassan, who was also onboard. A series of pre-recorded messages from crew members were released online.
'If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters,' Thunberg said in a brief message, urging family, friends and supporters to put pressure on the Swedish government to secure her release as soon as possible.
Shortly afterwards, Israel's foreign ministry said the crew was being taken to Israel and 'were expected to return to their home countries', and followed up by posting an image of Thunberg being offered a sandwich.
Israel has no legal authority to detain the Madleen crew in international waters and confiscate aid onboard, which included food, baby formula and medical supplies, said Huwaida Arraf, a human rights attorney and Freedom Flotilla organiser.
'This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the ICJ's binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza. These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalised for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade – their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.'
The UK-flagged Madleen set sail at a time of mounting international pressure on Israel over the starvation of Palestinians inside Gaza. In an apparent response to the huge amount of publicity generated by the group, Israel's foreign ministry attacked the crew as 'celebrities' on a 'selfie yacht'.
Israel's foreign minister, Israel Katz, made personal attacks on Thunberg and the rest of the crew in a post on X, and said they would be required to watch a film about the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023, which launched the war. About 1,200 people were killed, mostly civilians, and 250 taken to Gaza, where 55 are still held hostage.
Israel's attacks on Gaza since then have killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women, children and elderly people, and injured more than 125,000, according to health authorities in the territory, whose figures have proved accurate in past conflicts.
Most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents have been forced to flee their homes and displaced multiple times, and last month food security experts warned the territory was at 'critical risk of famine'.
The UN's special rapporteur on human rights in occupied Palestinian territories called for the UK to secure the release of the Madleen and its crew and urged others to challenge the blockade.
'Every Mediterranean port should send boats with aid, solidarity, and humanity to Gaza,' Francesca Albanese posted on X. 'Breaking the siege is a legal duty for states, and a moral imperative for all of us.'
On Sunday, at least a dozen Palestinians were killed trying to get food, hit by Israeli gunfire as they headed towards two food distribution centres run by a US and Israeli backed logistics group. Israel said it fired warning shots at people who approached its forces.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel delivered Patriot systems to Ukraine
Patriot air defence systems that previously protected Israel's airspace have been deployed in Ukraine. Source: Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky in an interview with Ukrainian journalist Mariia Dovbenko, as reported by Mezha Media, a technology and IT news platform within Ukrainska Pravda's holding company Quote from Brodsky: "There is a system very well known here in Ukraine – the Patriot system – which once saved us in the early 1990s during the first Gulf War. Back then, we received Patriot systems from the United States. And, by the way, these systems are now in Ukraine. These are Israeli systems that were in service in Israel in the early 1990s. We agreed to transfer them to Ukraine. Unfortunately, this has not been widely discussed, but when people say that Israel hasn't provided military aid, that's not true." Details: In May 2024, it was reported that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would stop using the American-made Patriot air defence systems. They are being replaced by systems based on more advanced technologies. Ukraine has repeatedly appealed to its partners for Patriot systems to defend against large-scale Russian attacks. These systems have proven highly effective, particularly in intercepting Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. In May 2023, a Patriot system successfully intercepted the first Kinzhal missile over Kyiv – a turning point in Ukraine's defence against this type of Russian weapon. The effective use of Patriots strengthened the air defence of Ukrainian cities. However, Ukraine still faces a shortage of such systems. Background: In April 2025, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine was ready to purchase 10 Patriot systems from the United States for US$15 billion, with European partners willing to support the financing. In May 2025, The New York Times reported that a Patriot system previously based in Israel would be sent to Ukraine after undergoing modernisation. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon!
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Israel diverts aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg, who in a video says she's been 'kidnapped'
LONDON -- The Israeli Foreign Ministry said early Monday that Israeli forces had boarded and diverted a privately owned ship carrying Swedish human rights activist Greta Thunberg and several others, who said they were attempting to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. The boat, the Madleen, was "safely making its way to the shores of Israel," the ministry said in a statement, deriding the efforts by those aboard as a "media provocation." "The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," the ministry said. The ship had been approaching the coast of the Gaza Strip with the stated aim of breaking an Israeli blockade on aid via the sea and delivering humanitarian supplies to the territory. According to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organized the aid trip, the 12 people on board were unarmed. "The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo -- including baby formula, food and medical supplies -- confiscated," the coalition said in a statement on Monday. The sea blockade of Gaza predates the current conflict that started when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and has been in place since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. MORE: Israel arming Gaza militias fighting Hamas, Netanyahu says Israeli officials released images of Thunberg and others wearing orange life vests and sitting closely together on the Madleen. People in Israel military uniforms are seen in the video handing bread and water to the activists. The ministry also released a separate image of Thunberg, in which a soldier is handing her bread and water. The ministry accompanied that image with a statement saying Thunberg was "currently on her way to Israel, safe and in good spirits." A video posted by the coalition appeared to rebuke the characterization that Thunberg was in "good spirits." "If you see this video we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel," Thunberg says in a video that was shot prior to the vessel being intercepted. In the video, which was verified by ABC News after it was posted online, Thunberg urged her "friends, family and comrades" to apply pressure on the Swedish government to push for their release "as soon as possible." Other activists onboard recorded similar messages. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement to social media that he had "instructed the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] to show the flotilla passengers the video of the horrors of the October 7 massacre when they arrive at the port of Ashdod." Katz had prior to the ship being diverted announced that he had instructed the IDF to act so that the flotilla "does not reach Gaza." The statement from Katz said the IDF had been instructed to stop the ship from reaching Gaza "and to take any measures necessary to do so." Israel diverts aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg, who in a video says she's been 'kidnapped' originally appeared on
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
All About Greta Thunberg, the Young Activist Who Sparked a Global Movement at 15 Years Old
Greta Thunberg was 15 years old when she did a solo strike outside the Swedish parliament to demand action on climate change She sailed across the Atlantic Ocean in 2019 to make a statement about the need to take action She was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and named TIME's Person of the Year in 2019Greta Thunberg was only 15 years old when she sparked a global movement. The political activist gained global attention in 2018 when she did a solo school-day strike outside the Swedish parliament to demand action on climate change. The following year, she traveled from Sweden to Washington, D.C. and made a groundbreaking speech at the U.N. Climate Action Summit, where she told world leaders they were failing young people. In the 2020 book I Know This to Be True: Greta Thunberg, the activist explained that her passion for activism is rooted in her early school days. 'I think my concern about the environment and climate change began in school, when I was maybe 8 or 9-years-old,' she said. "I saw and heard these horrible stories about what humans had done to the environment, and what we were doing to the climate, that the climate was changing." Thunberg continued, "I just couldn't understand how we could just continue not caring about this." In the years since, her activism has taken new shapes as she has entered adulthood. Most recently, Thunberg set out on an aid boat to Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war, which has since been seized by Israeli forces. From the early days of her activism to her awards and accolades, here's everything to know about Greta Thunberg. In December 2018, Thunberg gained notoriety when she told leaders at the United Nations COP24 Climate Summit in Poland that they 'are not mature enough to tell it like is.' 'Even that burden you leave to us children,' she said in her speech. 'But I don't care about being popular. I care about climate justice and the living planet.' 'For 25 years, countless people have come to the U.N. climate conferences begging our world leaders to stop emissions, and clearly that has not worked as emissions are continuing to rise. So I will not beg the world leaders to care for our future,' Thunberg added. 'I will instead let them know change is coming whether they like it or not.' In August 2018, Thunberg started a global movement after she organized walkout protests with her classmates against Sweden's inaction on climate change. She walked out of her classes every day for three weeks. Thunberg later continued her strike every Friday, posting about the walkouts on social media and encouraging other students around the world to participate in order to motivate lawmakers. Her #FridaysForFuture went viral and encouraged similar protests around the world, including the United Kingdom, where nearly 10,000 students skipped school to protest in February, according to The Guardian. After Fridays for Future sparked a wave of young people speaking out about the cause, Thunberg led the Global Climate Strikes, which took place over a week in September 2019. In March 2019, the young activist was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her international work in fighting climate change. That October, the award instead went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, but many people on social media continued to recognize her work. 'How @GretaThunberg did not win the #NobelPeacePrize is beyond me,' one user wrote at the time. 'She has inspired a generation & proven that you're never too young to make a difference. Climate change is affecting the planet & the world's leaders need to realise that our actions speak louder than words.' While she didn't receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Thunberg won the Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity in July 2020. She was awarded the equivalent of $1.15 million, which she then donated to organizations helping to make change amid the global climate crisis and pandemic. On her way to speak to U.S. Congressional members and the United Nations Climate Action Summit, Thunberg decided to sail across the Atlantic in a two-week zero-emissions voyage to further make a statement about the need to take action. She set off from the U.K. and ended her journey in New York City on Aug. 28, 2019. 'It is insane that a 16-year-old would have to cross the Atlantic Ocean to make a stand,' she told CBS News when she arrived. 'The climate and ecological crisis is a global crisis, the biggest crisis that humanity has ever faced, and if we don't manage to work together and to cooperate and to work together despite our differences, then we will fail.' Thunberg has been open about her Asperger's syndrome diagnosis, something critics have used to discredit her activism. However, the teen isn't fazed by her 'haters' and calls her diagnosis a 'superpower.' 'When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go. And then you know you're winning!' she wrote on X in August 2019. 'I have Aspergers and that means I'm sometimes a bit different from the norm. And – given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower." During an October 2019 conversation with PEOPLE, the activist again called her Asperger's her "superpower," and went on to say that "being different is a good thing." 'It's something we should aspire to be," she added. In December 2019, Thunberg was named TIME's Person of the Year, making history as the youngest person to receive the honor. Former TIME editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal announced the news while appearing on the Today show, saying, "She became the biggest voice on the biggest issue facing the planet this year." 'Her rise and influence has been really extraordinary,' Felsenthal continued. 'She was a solo protester with a hand-painted sign 14 months ago. She's now led millions of people around the world, 150 countries, to act on behalf of the planet.' In addition to being a young activist, Thunberg is also an accomplished author. In 2018, she released Our House Is on Fire: Scenes of a Family and a Planet in Crisis, which she co-wrote alongside her parents and sister. In 2019, she released No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference, which is a collection of her speeches. The following year, I Know This to Be True: Greta Thunberg was released as part of a larger series featuring interviews with modern world leaders. Most recently, in 2022, Thunberg released The Climate Book, which became a New York Times bestseller. According to the synopsis, the activist gathered knowledge from over 100 experts, including geophysicists, oceanographers, meteorologists and more, while also "sharing her own stories of demonstrating and uncovering greenwashing around the world." Read the original article on People