Greta Thunberg has been hauled off her ‘Freedom Flotilla’ by Israeli naval forces as it neared the besieged Gaza Strip.
As the Global Sumud Flotilla approached Palestinian territory with humanitarian aid on Wednesday evening, at least 19 vessels were intercepted and boarded by the Israeli navy, according to those onboard.
The Sirius, Alma and Adara boats were intercepted some 70 nautical miles (80 miles) from the coast of Gaza, according to organisers who shared live positions of the flotilla.
In footage posted to X by the Israel Foreign Ministry, Swedish climate activist Thunberg is seen among those being detained by officials.
While sitting on the floor, Thunberg takes what appears to be a bottle of water and puts on a green frog bucket hat and a white coat as she retrieves her belongings.
‘Already several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port,’ the post said.
‘Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.’
Thunberg and American actress Susan Sarandon, along with Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, are part of the controversial convoy of around 43 boats and 500 activists and aid workers sailing on what they describe as a ‘peaceful mission’ to deliver supplies to Palestinians in Gaza.
Thunberg was deported by Israel in June when the ship she was travelling on with 11 other people, the Madleen, was stopped by the military.
At the time, Israel was accused of using drones to spray an irritant substance on Thunberg’s flotilla before boarding and detaining her and other activists.
At around 9.30pm last night the flotilla said its vessels were being boarded by the Israeli navy as it approached Palestinian territory, with their cameras taken offline.
The fleet with Thunberg and several activists and European lawmakers aboard, consists of nearly 50 boats.
‘High alert. Our vessels are being illegally intercepted,’ organisers of the flotilla said.
‘Cameras are offline and vessels have been boarded by military personnel.
‘We are actively working to confirm the safety and status of all participants on board.’
The flotilla had earlier vowed to press on with its bid to deliver aid to the devastated coastal territory despite what it called ‘intimidation’ tactics by the Israeli military.
It said on X that it remained ‘vigilant as we enter the area where the previous flotillas were intercepted and/or attacked’.
Greg Stoker, an American veteran aboard one of the boats in the flotilla, said around a dozen naval vessels with their transponders off had approached it.
‘They are currently hailing our vessels, telling us to turn off our engines and await further instructions or our boats will be seized and we will face the consequences,’ he said in a shaky video while wearing a red life jacket.
A further statement from the flotilla said: ‘Around 8:30pm Gaza time, several vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, including the Alma, Sirius and Adara, were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli occupation forces in international waters.
‘Beyond the confirmed interceptions, live streams and communications with several other vessels have been lost.’
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on X that the navy had reached out to the flotilla to ask them to change course and to warn them that they are approaching ‘an active combat zone.’
It reiterated its offer to transfer the aid to Gaza through other channels.
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, has said that activists on board the Gaza aid flotilla will be deported once the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur concludes on Thursday.
‘We will not allow any PR stunt approaching an active war zone to violate our sovereignty. Those who tried to enter Israeli territory illegally will be deported immediately after Yom Kippur in Israel,’ Danon said in a statement.
He added that Israel has ‘repeatedly offered ways to peacefully deliver aid to Gaza’, but claimed the flotilla was ‘not interested in aid – only provocation’.
Italy – which had sent a navy ship to follow the flotilla for part of its journey but stopped as they got closer to Gaza’s shores – confirmed the Israeli intervention, as Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the operation was expected to take two to three hours.
He told state TV Rai that the boats would be towed to Israel’s port of Ashdod and the activists would be deported in the coming days and that Israeli forces have been told ‘not to use violence’.
However, Italy’s largest union called a general strike for Friday in protest against the interception of the flotilla.
Protests were also being held in a number of Italian cities late on Wednesday, including in Naples, where demonstrators halted train traffic at the main station.
Demonstrations have also been erupting across Europe, with protesters seen filling the streets in Athens, Rome, Berlin and Brussels on Wednesday evening.
In Berlin, protesters reportedly closed down the central train station, while pro-Palestine demonstrators poured into Milan’s Cadorna’s railway station on Wednesday evening.
Human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement: ‘Reports that Israeli forces have intercepted the Gaza flotilla marks yet another shameful chapter in the brutal and merciless enforcement of Israel’s illegal and immoral 18-year blockade of Gaza and is an attack on international law and basic humanity.’
It also called on Keir Starmer to ‘condemn this interception, demand the immediate and unconditional release of all those on board, including any British nationals, and insist that Israel ends its unlawful blockade and allows unrestricted humanitarian access to occupied Gaza.’
British nationals and British-flagged ships are part of the flotilla. It is unclear how many Britons have been intercepted by Israeli forces.
A Foreign Office spokesperson told the Daily Mail: ‘We are in touch with the family members of a number of British nationals on Global Sumud Flotilla.’
Earlier in the day, the international flotilla said it would continue to sail onwards after a tense night in the Mediterranean Sea with over 40 civilian boats aiming to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
‘Every minute we advance a little more,’ Thiago Ávila, one of the flotilla leaders, told reporters on Wednesday from aboard the Alma, one of the flotilla’s motherships.
The vessels were sailing in international waters north of Egypt on Wednesday afternoon and had entered what activists and others called a ‘danger zone’ or ‘high risk zone.’
While still in international waters, it is an area where the Israeli navy has stopped other boats attempting to break its blockade in the past and which the flotilla was warned not to cross.
There were fears the voyage could end in disaster as the 500-strong crew ignored repeated warnings and refused to hand over the aid to be delivered by land crossing.
On Tuesday night, activists said two Israeli warships aggressively approached two of their boats, circling them and jamming their communications, including the live cameras on board.
‘It was an intimidation act. They wanted us to see them,’ said Lisi Proença, another activist who was on board the Sirius, a vessel that was targeted alongside the Alma.
After the close encounter, the military vessels eventually left and the flotilla continued on its journey, broadcasting live cameras from many of its boats.
By Wednesday afternoon, the atmosphere appeared to be more relaxed on board the decks of some of the sailboats that broadcast their journeys through 24/7 livestreams.
Some activists held up messages of solidarity with people in Gaza and chanted ‘Free Palestine!’ on camera. Music could be heard playing in the background.
Flotilla participants have also flooded social media with videos of their voyage and constant updates.
The flotilla, which began its journey from the Spanish port of Barcelona a month ago, aimed to reach the shores of Gaza by Thursday morning.
But activists knew that was unlikely and said that they were expecting Israeli authorities to try to stop them at any moment, as they have done in past attempts.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the flotilla a provocation and warned them to stop and transfer their aid through other channels into Gaza.
The Israeli government has accused some of the flotilla members of being linked to Hamas, while providing little evidence to support the claim.
Activists have strongly rejected the accusations and said Israel was trying to justify potential attacks on them.
European governments, including Spain and Italy, which had sent their navy ships to escort the flotilla during part of its journey, urged the activists this week to turn back and avoid confrontation.
But while Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni said late Tuesday the flotilla’s actions risked undermining US President Donald Trump’s recent proposal for resolving the war in Gaza, Spain’s prime minister defended them.
‘We must remember it is a humanitarian mission that wouldn’t be taking place if the Israeli government had allowed for the entry of aid,’ Pedro Sánchez told reporters on Wednesday.
Spaniards taking part would benefit from full diplomatic protection, he added.
‘They present no threat nor danger to Israel,’ he said.
The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that a state only has jurisdiction up to 12 nautical miles (19 kilometers) from its shores.
In general, states don’t have the right to seize ships in international waters, though armed conflict is an exception to this.
Yuval Shany, an expert on international law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said that as long as Israel’s blockade of Gaza is ‘militarily justified, Israel can intercept the vessel after prior warning’.
Whether the blockade is militarily justified and the legality of the blockade is a point of contention.
But the flotilla argues they are a civilian, unarmed group and that the passage of humanitarian aid is guaranteed in international law.
The flotilla’s advance comes as Israeli forces killed at least 31 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, local Hamas-run hospitals said, as questions churned about Trump’s peace plan aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza.
Hamas announced it would review the proposal with group members and other Palestinian factions before reaching a decision.
While the proposal offers an end to the fighting, guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction, the Palestinian militant group will have to disarm, something it has rejected in the past.
Also, Gaza and its more than two million Palestinians would be put under international governance for the foreseeable future.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backs the plan, and several leaders of Arab countries have applauded it.
Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half of the dead.
Its campaign was triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others.
Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals.
