Israeli forces have taken command of a charity vessel that had tried to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, officials said on Monday. They said the boat and its crew of 12, including activist Greta Thunberg, is now heading to a port in Israel.
The British-flagged yacht Madleen, which is operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), was aiming to deliver a symbolic amount of aid to Gaza later on Monday and raise international awareness of the humanitarian crisis there.
However, the boat was boarded during the night before it could reach shore, the FFC said on its Telegram account. 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."
Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European parliament.
- "The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2 a.m.," Hassan posted on X.
The yacht is carrying a small shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula. The Israeli foreign ministry said it would be taken to Gaza.
"The tiny amount of aid that was on the yacht and not consumed by the 'celebrities' will be transferred to Gaza through real humanitarian channels," it wrote.
Israeli defence minister Israel Katz ordered the military on Sunday to prevent the Madleen from reaching Gaza, calling the mission a propaganda effort in support of Hamas.
Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.
The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel's national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
"The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas," he said.
The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, has supported the FFC operation and on Monday urged other boats to challenge the Gaza blockade.
"Madleen's journey may have ended, but the mission isn't over. Every Mediterranean port must send boats with aid & solidarity to Gaza," she wrote on X.
Four killed near Gaza aid distribution centre
Four people were killed and others injured by Israeli forces on Sunday as Palestinians making their way towards an aid distribution site in the southern Gaza Strip came under fire, according to Palestinian paramedics.
It was the latest deadly incident near sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Palestinians have described areas around the sites as chaotic and dangerous, with dozens of fatal shootings over the past week.
The Israeli military said in a statement troops had opened fire in southern Gaza but said that it had directed warning shots at a group that was moving towards soldiers and deemed a threat to them.
The GHF, which is providing aid under an Israeli initiative that is bypassing traditional relief agencies who say their deliveries into Israeli-blockaded Gaza have been restricted, said it had handed out 1.15 million meals across three sites in southern and central Gaza without incident on Sunday.
Israel says top Hamas leader's body found
The Israeli military said it had retrieved the body of Hamas' military chief Mohammed Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in southern Gaza, following a targeted operation last month.
Another senior Hamas leader, Muhammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was also found dead at the scene, according to IDF spokesperson, Brigadier General Effie Defrin.
Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a tour of the tunnel that had been uncovered beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which Defrin said was a major command and control compound for Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sinwar's death last month, but Defrin said they now had his DNA which proved beyond doubt it was him.
Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group's deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the assault in which Hamas-led gunmen killed 1,200 people and took around 250 hostages.
Israel's campaign has since killed more than 54,880 Palestinians, local health authorities say, and displaced much of the enclave's population.
The UN has warned most of Gaza's 2.3 million population is at risk of famine.
