Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and other activists whose Gaza-bound aid ship was intercepted by Israeli naval forces have been taken to a Tel Aviv airport for deportation.
The 12 activists departed Italy on June 1 aboard the Madleen carrying a symbolic amount of food and supplies for Gaza, whose entire population the UN has warned faces famine risk. Israeli forces intercepted the vessel in international waters on Monday and towed it to Ashdod port.
“The passengers of the ‘Selfie Yacht’ arrived at Ben Gurion airport to depart from Israel and return to their home countries,” the Israeli foreign ministry said on X. “Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority”.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), operating the Madleen, said all 12 campaigners were “being processed and transferred into the custody of Israeli authorities”. They may be permitted to fly out of Tel Aviv as early as tonight, the group said on social media.
Video released by the group showed activists with hands raised as Israeli forces boarded the vessel, with one stating nobody was injured. The Madleen was intercepted approximately 185km west of Gaza’s coast, according to FFC coordinates.
French President Emmanuel Macron requested that six French nationals aboard the boat “be allowed to return to France as soon as possible”, a presidential official said.
Adalah, an Israeli NGO providing legal support for the country’s Arab minority, said the activists had requested its services and would likely be taken to a detention centre before deportation.
Turkey condemned the interception as a “heinous attack” whilst Iran denounced it as “a form of piracy” in international waters.
In May, another Freedom Flotilla ship, the Conscience, was damaged in international waters off Malta whilst heading to Gaza, with activists suspecting an Israeli drone attack.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Sunday the naval blockade on Gaza, in place for years before the Israel-Hamas war, was needed to prevent Palestinian militants importing weapons.
Israel faces mounting pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread food and basic supply shortages.
In what organisers called a “symbolic act”, hundreds launched a nine-bus land convoy from Tunisia on Monday aiming to reach Gaza. The convoy will pass through Libya and Egypt, though Cairo has yet to provide passage permits, an activist said.
Israel recently allowed some deliveries to resume after barring them for over two months and began working with the newly formed, US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
However, humanitarian agencies have criticised the GHF, and the United Nations refuses to work with it, citing concerns over its practices and neutrality. Dozens have been killed near GHF distribution points since late May, according to Gaza’s civil defence agency.
Last week, aid distribution centres across Gaza ceased operations after the Israeli military designated access routes as combat zones, disrupting humanitarian efforts in the besieged territory.
Experts, governments, United Nations agencies, and non-governmental organisations have accused Israel of carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people.
(with information from The Guardian)
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