The Madleen was boarded overnight while on a humanitarian mission to bring supplies to the besieged territory
Israel Seizes Greta Thunberg’s Gaza Aid Boat
Gabrielle Weiniger / The Times
(June 9, 2025) — Israeli forces have taken command of a charity boat on its way to Gaza carrying humanitarian aid — and the Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
The Freedom Flotilla had tried to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip and is now heading to a port in Israel, officials said on Sunday.
The vessel was boarded during the night, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry later confirmed that it was under Israeli control.
“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.”
The French MEP Rima Hassan, who was on the boat, posted on X: “The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 am.”
She shared a photograph of the crew seated wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air.
Earlier, Israel had instructed its military to stop the boat “by any means necessary”.
On Sunday, the Freedom Flotilla announced that an alarm had been sounded and the boat’s occupants were preparing for an interception.
Israel Katz, the defence minister, wrote on X: “I have instructed the IDF to act to stop the hate-flotilla ‘Madleen’ from reaching the shores of Gaza — and to take any means necessary to that end.”
The Madleen — which is carrying ten other people in addition to Thunberg and Hassan — was in Egyptian waters on Sunday evening. It departed Sicily on June 1 carrying medical supplies, baby formula and prosthetic limbs for the people of Gaza.
Katz warned: “To the antisemitic Greta and her fellow Hamas propaganda spokespeople, I say clearly: You should turn back — because you will not reach Gaza. Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or aid terrorist organisations — at sea, in the air and on land.”
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the team carrying out the mission, responded in a statement on X saying it expected “interception and an attack from Israel at any moment” and called for the governments of those on board to protect them.
Thiago Ávila, another activist on board, posted a video on social media saying the boat’s navigation devices had been disabled. “They are preparing to stop us or attack us,” he said. It is possible that this was only a temporary shutdown, as the boat could still be seen on the coalition’s Madleen Tracker website.
The International Committee for Breaking the Siege on Gaza, which is in charge of the coalition, said in a statement that the ship had passed through Alexandria, northern Egypt, and will “in hours reach Mansoura city … en route to Gaza”.
“The coming hours will be most critical,” the statement read.
The trip has already made headlines after the Madleen picked up four Sudanese migrants who were trying to escape Libyan authorities. The migrants had jumped into the sea from a boat that was rapidly deflating, a representative for the Freedom Flotilla said.
Israel has warned the Madleen not to dock, with officials stating that if the boat failed to turn back, it would pull the ship to the port of Ashdod and deport its crew.
But the activists remain cautious, reminded of when Israel raided the Mavi Marmara flotilla on May 31, 2010 in international waters, 80 miles from the Israeli coast. Descending on ropes from helicopters, Israeli commandos opened fire, killing ten Turkish activists on board.
Hassan said there has been a lack of official response from countries whose citizens are part of the crew.
“No state has responded,” she said. “The message being sent is that Israel is being allowed to act with impunity, without any guarantee of protection for us.
“There are 12 of us civilians on board. We are not armed. There is only humanitarian aid.”
Some of the activists on board have been criticised for their past remarks against Israel. Hassan, who is barred from entering the country, is reported to have accused Israel of being responsible for the October 7 attack, while Avilá attended the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah — which is deemed a terrorist group by the UK and the US — after he was assassinated last year.
