Israel says Greta Thunberg has been deported after seizure of Gaza-bound ship

Jerusalem: Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday, the country’s foreign ministry said, a day after the Gaza-bound ship she was on was seized by the Israeli military.

The 22-year-old left on a flight to France and was then headed to her home country of Sweden, the ministry said on X. It posted a photo of Thunberg, who shuns air travel, seated on a plane.

Thunberg was one of 12 passengers on board the Madleen, a boat carrying a small cargo of aid destined for people in war-torn Gaza.

Israel’s foreign ministry posted an image of activist Greta Thunberg on its X account early on Tuesday (AEST).Credit: Israel Foreign Ministry

Israeli naval forces seized the boat early on Monday about 200 kilometres off Gaza’s coast, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organised the journey. The boat, accompanied by Israel’s navy, arrived in the Israeli port of Ashdod on Monday evening, according to Israel’s foreign ministry.

Adalah, a legal rights group in Israel representing Thunberg and the other activists, said Thunberg, two other activists and a journalist had agreed to be deported and leave Israel. The other eight activists refused deportation, were being held in detention and their case was set to be heard by Israeli authorities, it said. The activists were expected to be brought before a court later on Tuesday.

The activists had set out from Sicily a week ago to protest against Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the Gaza Strip and its tight restrictions on the entry of humanitarian aid. Both have put the territory of about 2.3 million Palestinians at risk of famine.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he had ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the boat from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.

He said he ordered the activists to be shown a video of the atrocities committed during the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, so they could “see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organisation they came to support and for whom their work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself”, London’s Telegraph reported.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition said the activists were “kidnapped by Israeli forces” while trying to deliver desperately needed food, baby formula and medical supplies.

“If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel,” Thunberg said in a video released by the group, filmed before the vessel was captured.

“I urge all my friends, family and comrades to put pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible.”

US President Donald Trump dismissed the statement: “I think Israel has enough problems without kidnapping Greta Thunberg,” he said. “She’s a young, angry person … I think she has to go to an anger management class.” He made a similar remark about the then-16-year-old activist in 2019.

Israel has dismissed the aid ship as a stunt, with its foreign ministry labelling the boat “the selfie yacht”. Officials said the flotilla carried what amounted to less than a truckload of aid.

“This wasn’t humanitarian aid. It’s Instagram activism,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer said.

Israel said the aid on board would be sent to Gaza through established channels, and circulated footage of what appeared to be Israeli military personnel offering sandwiches and water to the activists, who were wearing life vests. It also published a photo of Thunberg on social media after she disembarked.

After an 11-week total blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers and experts say it is not enough and have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive. The United Nations said on Monday that it had only been able to bring minimal flour into Gaza and most aid had been looted by armed gangs or taken by starving Palestinians.

Palestinians also said Israeli forces and local gunmen working near the soldiers had on Monday fired towards a crowd heading to a new Israeli-backed aid distribution centre in the Gaza Strip, with Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry and local hospitals saying 14 people were killed.

Dozens of people have died in shootings over the past two weeks while attempting to get aid from new centres run by a controversial new aid group backed by the US and Israel, called the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The United Nations and other aid groups have refused to work with the group, citing humanitarian concerns.

Greta Thunberg with part of the crew of the ship Madleen, shortly before the departure for Gaza.Credit: Getty Images

An attempt by Freedom Flotilla last month to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of its vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta, organisers said. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the ship’s front section.

Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, was among six French citizens aboard. French President Emmanuel Macron earlier asked Israel to allow them to return to France as soon as possible, his office said in a statement.

Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the crew and passengers were aware of the risks and that her ministry had advised against travel to Gaza for a decade and people who disregard that had a clear personal responsibility, Swedish news agency TT reported.

Displaced Palestinians walk past the ruins of buildings along the Gaza City shoreline on Monday.Credit: AP

Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a 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 off Gaza 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.

Hamas-led militants killed about 1200 people, mostly civilians, in the October 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas still holds 55 hostages. More than half are believed to be dead.

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between civilians and combatants but has said that women and children make up most of the dead.

The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced about 90 per cent of the population, leaving people 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. Israel has vowed to continue the war until all the captives are returned and Hamas is defeated, or disarmed and exiled.

AP, Reuters

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