A Gaza-bound aid boat, the Madleen, has been seized by Israeli forces in international waters, and the dozen international activists on board are facing detention and deportation. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which launched the ship to draw attention to the looming famine in besieged Gaza, said the vessel was captured at about 4:02am on Monday, approximately 200km from Gaza.
The activists, including climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and French member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, were shown with their hands up in a video released by the coalition as Israeli forces boarded the vessel. Adalah, a Palestinian legal centre representing the activists, stated that Israel had “no legal authority” to take over the ship, which was heading to the “territorial waters of the State of Palestine”. Huwaida Arraf, an FFC organiser, said, “We have lawyers on standby who are going to demand they have access to them tonight – as soon as possible.”
Arraf added that the Madleen was sailing under a United Kingdom flag when it was seized by Israeli commandos, saying, “So Israel went into international waters and attacked sovereign UK territory, which is blatantly unlawful. And we expect strong condemnation, which we have not yet heard from the United Kingdom.” The UK government urged Israel to handle the detention of the activists “safely with restraint, in line with international humanitarian law”.
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory, condemned Israel’s actions, stating, “Israel has absolutely no authority to intercept and stop a boat like this, which carries humanitarian aid, and more than everything else, humanity, to the people of Gaza.” Thunberg, in a prerecorded video message, urged her friends and family to pressure the Swedish government to release her and the others as soon as possible.
The seizure of the boat has sparked international condemnation, with Turkey calling it a “heinous attack” and Iran denouncing it as “a form of piracy” in international waters. Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz said the activists would be shown videos of atrocities committed during the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. The activists will likely be accused of entering Israel illegally and deported.
Meanwhile, the situation in Gaza remains dire, with Israeli forces killing 60 Palestinians since dawn, including three medics and 13 hungry aid seekers near an Israeli- and US-backed aid distribution site. The UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, said, “Israeli authorities have blocked the delivery of safe and dignified aid at scale to the people of Gaza for over three months now… Allow us to do our work: assist people in need and preserve their dignity.”