The Palestinian foreign ministry, located in the West Bank, has issued a call for the protection of activists aboard an aid ship attempting to reach the Gaza Strip. In a recent post on X, the ministry expressed its support for these international solidarity activists, describing their mission as a noble effort to break the ongoing siege on Gaza.
This latest incident involving the ship Madleen comes just a month after a previous Gaza-bound vessel named Conscience was set ablaze off the coast of Malta. Activists reported that Israeli drones struck the Conscience while it was in international waters on May 2, resulting in four civilian volunteers sustaining injuries and the ship becoming disabled and engulfed in flames. The Maltese government confirmed that all individuals on board were safe and that the fire was brought under control. Notably, climate activist Greta Thunberg was part of a group intended to board the Conscience but ultimately joined the Madleen, which departed for Gaza last Friday.
“The world’s governments remained silent when the Conscience was bombed. Now Israel is testing that silence again,” stated Tan Safi, an organizer from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
The team supporting Rima Hassan, a French Palestinian member of the European Parliament aboard the Madleen, reported that the Israeli army arrested the crew in international waters at 02:00 local time. “Actions are coming,” Hassan's team announced on her X account. In a previous interview from the vessel, Hassan emphasized, “We are not armed. There is only humanitarian aid.”
Initial moments following the reported interception by Israeli forces were captured in a video where activist Yasemin Acar claimed that chemicals were dropped on the volunteers, causing her eye irritation. As the video concluded, she confirmed that the Israeli military had intercepted the boat.
According to a UN-backed assessment released earlier this month, over two million people in Gaza are at risk of starvation. After a three-month blockade, Israel has recently allowed limited aid into Gaza, primarily through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization backed by the US and Israel. However, the GHF has faced significant controversy, especially following several deadly incidents during its initial week of operations. Reports indicate that dozens of Palestinians have died, and hundreds have been injured while attempting to access the distribution center, with six fatalities attributed to Israeli gunfire, according to the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.
The GHF-run center has been forced to pause operations multiple times due to overcrowding and safety concerns, raising questions about the effectiveness of the aid distribution process.
Greta Thunberg, now 22, is celebrated as one of the world's foremost climate change activists. She gained widespread recognition in 2018 at the age of 15 when she initiated the first School Strike for Climate outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm. This movement ignited global awareness, leading to hundreds of thousands of young people participating in her Fridays For Future strikes. Thunberg has since been arrested multiple times for her activism and has faced fines from Swedish courts.
The Israeli foreign ministry has derogatorily referred to the Madleen as a “selfie yacht” of celebrities. They reported that the activists were unharmed after interception and expected to return to their home countries. Israel's officials have shared photos and videos of the Freedom Flotilla activists, including Thunberg, being provided with food and water while criticizing their mission as a media stunt aimed solely at gaining publicity, highlighting that the aid they intended to deliver amounted to less than a single truckload.
“There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip that do not involve Instagram selfies,” the foreign ministry stated, amid ongoing warnings from the United Nations about famine, malnutrition, and disease in Gaza.
Francesca Albanese, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, has urged vessels in the region to persist in challenging Israel's maritime blockade around Gaza. “While the Madleen must be released immediately, every Mediterranean port should send boats with aid, solidarity, and humanity to Gaza,” she stressed in a post on X. Albanese also called on the UK government to urgently clarify the situation and secure the immediate release of the vessel and its crew.
While Israel has allowed limited aid into Gaza via the GHF, humanitarian groups have condemned this arrangement, arguing that it fails to address the urgent needs of the population. The UN's humanitarian chief, Tom Fletcher, remarked that significantly more aid must be permitted to enter Gaza, especially given the recent clearance of only nine aid trucks.
In the wake of these events, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has shared several videos featuring pre-recorded messages from activists aboard the Madleen. German activist Yasmine Acar declared that she and others had been intercepted at sea and described their situation as a kidnapping by Israeli forces or their allies, whom she accused of complicity in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians.
The Madleen, which set sail on June 6 from Sicily with the goal of reaching Gaza, has been intercepted by Israeli forces. Reports indicate that the vessel is now being redirected to the shores of Israel. The ship carries a crew of 12, including well-known figures such as Greta Thunberg, Rima Hassan, and Omar Faiad, a journalist from Al Jazeera, alongside several other activists.
