Israeli forces have boarded and seized a yacht trying to bring humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and detained the 12 pro-Palestinian activists it was carrying, including Greta Thunberg.
The Madleen is now on its way to Ashdod, a port city around 27km (17 miles) north of Gaza, according to Israeli media.
It was trying to bring a “symbolic” amount of aid to Gaza in defiance of an Israeli naval blockade.
Israel’s foreign ministry said the yacht was “safely making its way to the shores of Israel” and its passengers were “expected to return to their home countries”.
The ministry shared footage of soldiers handing out sandwiches and water bottles to the activists.
“Connection has been lost” on the Madleen, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) campaign group said on the Telegram app. It posted a photo showing people in life jackets sitting with their hands up.
Israel says its blockade on Gaza is necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas fighters in Gaza.
After reporting that the yacht had been boarded, the FFC posted short, pre-recorded videos of some of the activists, including Thunberg.
In the footage, activists say “if you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped” by the Israeli military or forces supporting Israel.
The FFC has argued that the sea blockade is illegal, characterising Katz’s statement as an example of Israel threatening the unlawful use of force against civilians and “attempting to justify that violence with smears”.
“We will not be intimidated. The world is watching,” FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said.
“The Madleen is a civilian vessel, unarmed and sailing in international waters, carrying humanitarian aid and human rights defenders from across the globe… Israel has no right to obstruct our effort to reach Gaza.”
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the group said.
Citizens of Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and Turkey are onboard.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 Turkish activists when they boarded the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara, which was leading an aid flotilla towards Gaza.
Israel recently began to allow limited aid into Gaza after a three-month land blockade, prioritising distribution through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is backed by Israel and the US but widely condemned by humanitarian groups.
The UN’s human rights chief, Volker Türk, said last week Palestinians were being presented with the “grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed while trying to access the meagre food that is being made available”.
But in a post on X early on Monday, the Israeli foreign ministry said: “While Greta and others attempted to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity – and which included less than a single truckload of aid – more than 1,200 aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel within the past two weeks, and in addition, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has distributed close to 11 million meals directly to civilians in Gaza.
“There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip – they do not involve Instagram selfies.”
It is 20 months since Israel launched a military campaign in Gaza in response to the unprecedented Hamas-led cross-border attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
At least 54,880 people have been killed in Gaza since, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
