The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Madleen’s crew is being taken to Israel after Israeli commandos seized the vessel in international waters.
The Madleen ship, launched by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, was close to 100 miles [160km] from Gaza when it was stopped.
The ship was carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians starving because of Israel’s siege. Israel’s most recent total blockade began on March 2, and has only partially lifted under mounting international pressure.
The Madleen departed Sicily on June 1, one month after Israeli drones bombed another aid ship headed for Gaza. Climate activist Greta Thunberg is among the 12 activists now being detained by Israel.
“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel,” the ministry said in a post on X.
Videos showed the moment the Madleen was intercepted and the activists and journalists on board were ordered to throw their mobile phones into the sea.
Al Jazeera said their reporter Omar Faiad continued reporting on the interception until contact was severed.
Before contact was lost with the activists on board, they said Israel had sprayed a thick, white, paint-like substance onto the boat.
The “paint” was an irritant, causing burning eyes and general discomfort, according to Al Jazeera.
Greta Thunberg has shared a prerecorded video appealing for international help.
“My name is Greta Thunberg, and I am from Sweden,” Thunberg said in the video recorded on board the Madleen, before tonight’s events.
“If you see this video, we are being intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel,” she said.
“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.”
Brazilian activist Thiago Avila also posted a video he recorded in case of the Madleen being intercepted.
In it, he says that if the video is published, then he has been “arrested or kidnapped by Israel or another complicit force”.
He went on to call on supporters to pressure his government and the governments of the other activists on board to release them from captivity, sever ties with Israel, end its genocide in Gaza, and lift the siege.
“Madleen must be released immediately,” UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who was on the phone with the Madleen crew when they were detained, said in a post on X.
“Breaking the siege is a legal duty for states, and a moral imperative for all of us,” Albanese added.
“Every Mediterranean port should send boats with aid, solidarity, and humanity to Gaza. They shall sail together—united, they will be unstoppable.”
