Israeli forces seize Gaza aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg, ministry says
The Tánaiste has said that the seizure of an aid boat approaching Gaza raises a question of how the world has come to this.
Israeli forces have taken command of a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and the boat with its crew of 12, including activist Greta Thunberg is now heading to a port in Israel.
The British-flagged yacht Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there.
However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on its Telegram account.
In a statement on Monday, Simon Harris said the boat was "an effort to get food and medicine to the starving people of Gaza; an unarmed civilian effort in the midst of devastation and catastrophic humanitarian conditions."
He added: "But it was much more than that; it was a powerful symbol of the urgent and essential need to end the blockade on humanitarian aid.
"What has happened is another effort by the Israeli authorities to stop the entry of aid. It should not fall to any small group of civilians to get aid into Gaza.
He continued: "Ireland has consistently called on Israel to lift its blockade and allow unimpeded access of humanitarian aid at scale into Gaza, in accordance with international law and humanitarian principles.
He concluded: "The question we should be asking today is not a debate about the merits or not of the flotilla but how it has come to this; that the world is turning a blind eye to starving children in Gaza."
The FFC said the activists were “kidnapped by Israeli forces” while trying to deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza.
“The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo — including baby formula, food and medical supplies —confiscated,” it said in a statement.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control and cast the voyage as a public relations stunt.
"The 'selfie yacht' of the 'celebrities' is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. The passengers are expected to return to their home countries," the ministry wrote on X.
All passengers were safe and unharmed, the ministry later added. "They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over."
Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Ms Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
"The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2am," Ms Hassan posted on X. A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air.
The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. The Foreign Ministry said it would be taken to Gaza.
"The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it wrote.
Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.
Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally.
Gaza's health ministry says over 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel's military campaign.
After a two-and-a-half-month total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers and experts have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive.
An attempt last month by Freedom Flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group’s vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta.
The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship.
Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s Palestinian population.
Israel sealed Gaza off from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, but later relented under US pressure.
In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine.
The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Sunday, urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.
"Madleen's journey may have ended, but the mission isn't over. Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid & solidarity to Gaza," she wrote on X.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of the territory’s population, leaving people there almost completely dependent on international aid.
Efforts to broker another truce have been deadlocked for months.
Hamas says it will only release the remaining hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated or disarmed and exiled.
- Reuters and Associated Press
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