Israeli soldiers seized the British-flagged sailing vessel Madleen, chartered by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) and headed for the Gaza Strip in defiance of the naval blockade imposed by Israel.

The Israeli foreign ministry said the “celebrity” yacht was being brought safely to Israel’s shores.“Those on board are expected to return to their homes,” it stressed.

“While Greta (Tunberg) and others attempted to stage a media provocation for the sole purpose of gaining publicity – which included less humanitarian aid than (as much as) a truck can hold – more than 1.200 humanitarian aid trucks have entered Gaza from Israel in the last two weeks, and in addition the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has distributed nearly 11 million meals directly to Gazans,” the statement issued by the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

The statement issued by the ministry of health and human services said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
“There are ways to deliver (humanitarian) aid to the Gaza Strip – they don’t involve Instagram selfies. The small amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the ‘celebrities’ will be taken to Gaza through real humanitarian routes,”it argues.

The non-governmental organization FFC, which had chartered the sailboat, announced via Telegram that “communication with the Madleen has been lost. The Israeli army has captured the vessel,” adding that the occupants “were abducted by Israeli forces.”

The sailing ship Madleen set sail from Sicily on June 1 with the aim of breaking the “naval blockade” imposed by Israel on Gaza and delivering a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid to the Palestinian enclave. His last position indicated that he was about 31 nautical miles from the Gaza Strip.

Members of the crew

Earlier, Palestinian-born French MEPRima Hassan, who was on board the boat with activists – including Greta Tunberg from Sweden and Thiago Avila from Brazil – reported via her X-platform account that five Israeli speedboats had approached the Madleen.

Yesterday, Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Kats ordered the armed forces to prevent the vessel carrying a symbolic amount of humanitarian aid from breaking the naval blockade and reaching Gaza.

“I instructed the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) to act to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, he said in a statement. “To the anti-Semitic Greta and her friends who spread Hamas propaganda, I say clearly: You better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”

Israeli media reported that the army was planning to intercept the sailboat before it reached Gaza, escort it to the port of Ashdod and then initiate the process of deporting the occupants.