Israel intercepts Greta Thunberg’s Gaza aid ship

Israeli authorities early Monday morning intercepted a ship headed to Gaza with climate activist Greta Thunberg and Franco-Palestinian MEP Rima Hassan on board.

“If you are seeing this video, it is because we were intercepted either by the State of Israel or by forces complicit with the State of Israel. We count on your mobilization to put pressure on the French government to demand our release,” Hassan said in a video published by the European Parliament’s Left group, to which she belongs.

 The Madleen — operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition and dubbed the Freedom Flotilla — left Italy on June 1 carrying humanitarian aid for Gaza’s civilian population to “break the Israeli blockade.”

“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,” Israel’s foreign ministry said in a post on social media. “They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over.”

Paris has requested consular protection for the six French nationals on board, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said in a statement.

The French consulate has requested permission to see them and allow them to rapidly return to France, he added. “France calls on the Israeli government to allow immediate, massive, and unhindered access for humanitarian aid to Gaza,” the statement said.

The humanitarian situation in the Palestinian enclave is dire, with reports of widespread hunger and a collapsing health system caused by Israel’s restrictions on aid and ongoing military offensive.

On Sunday, at least 12 people were reportedly killed by gunfire on their way to aid distribution points in Gaza run by a controversial Israeli and U.S.-backed group known as the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Israel has spent more than 18 months conducting a retaliatory assault in the Gaza Strip — killing more than 50,000 people, according to local health officials, and waging a blockade that has brought the coastal enclave to the brink of famine, according to the United Nations — after the Palestinian militant group Hamas carried out a violent attack on Israeli soil, killing more than 1,000 people and taking hostages.

European politicians have been increasing political pressure on Israel to stop its war on Gaza, with the EU set to review its political and economic agreement with the country over the “catastrophic” situation in the Palestinian enclave.

The Left Group urged the European Union, the U.N. and national governments to demand the release of the Madleen passengers, as well as the free passage of the vessel to Gaza, calling the interception “a blatant violation of international law.”

Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz said he told the armed forces to show the Madleen passengers a video of Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023, calling Thunberg “antisemitic” and Hassan “a Hamas supporter.”

Clea Caulcutt contributed to this report.