Israeli soldiers seized the sailing vessel Madleen flying under the British flag, which had been chartered by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and was heading toward the Gaza Strip, defying the naval blockade imposed by Israel.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry announced that the “celebrities'” yacht is being safely escorted to Israeli shores. “The passengers are expected to return to their home countries,” a statement said this morning.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s post
‘All passengers of the “selfie yacht” are safe and sound. They were given sandwiches and water. The show is over’, the Israeli foreign ministry noted following the operation.
“While Greta (Thunberg) and others attempted to stage a media provocation, Israel said, with the sole purpose of gaining publicity and carrying less humanitarian aid than (what fits in) a truck – more than 1,200 trucks have entered Gaza from Israel in the past two weeks, and additionally the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has distributed nearly 11 million meals directly to Gaza civilians’.
There are ways to deliver (humanitarian) aid to the Gaza Strip – they don’t include Instagram selfies, the Israeli foreign ministry stressed, adding that the small amount of aid that was on the yacht and wasn’t consumed by the ‘celebrities’, will be transferred to Gaza through actual humanitarian channels.
The NGO FFC, which had chartered the sailing vessel, announced via Telegram that “communication with the Madleen has been lost. The Israeli army seized the vessel,” adding that the passengers were “abducted by Israeli forces.”
Madleen departed from Sicily on June 1st with the goal of breaking the naval blockade imposed by Israel on Gaza and delivering a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave. Its last known position showed it was approximately 31 nautical miles from the Gaza Strip.
The crew members
Earlier, French MEP of Palestinian descent Rima Hassan, who was aboard the vessel along with activists – including Greta Thunberg from Sweden and Thiago Ávila from Brazil – reported via her X platform account that five Israeli speedboats had approached the Madleen.
The standoff begun yesterday when Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz ordered the armed forces not to allow the vessel to reach Gaza.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her friends, who spread Hamas propaganda, I say clearly: Better turn back, because you won’t reach Gaza.”
Israeli media reported that the army planned to intercept the sailing vessel’s voyage before it reached Gaza, escort it to the port of Ashdod and subsequently initiate deportation proceedings for the passengers.
