TRANSCRIPT
Israeli forces have boarded the Freedom Flotilla yacht, the Madleen, as it approached Gaza, with all communication with the vessel lost.
In a series of Tweets, those aboard indicated that an Israeli intervention was imminent.
Video from the scene shows the Madleen illuminated by bright lights as those aboard scrambled to throw their phones overboard, to prevent information on them falling into the hands of the Israeli military.
Then moments later the yacht is boarded and all communication is lost.
PERSON 1: "We are being boarded right now, we are being suspended right now."
PERSON 2: "Please everyone....If anything happens to us it will be yet another war crime added to the long list of war crimes Israel has been committing."
PERSON 1: "We are being intercepted right now. Everyone here is safe, no-one is wounded right now. It is very important that you know, no-one is wounded until the time they boarded our boat."
Aboard the Madleen is a crew of 12 including activist Greta Thunberg and European Parliament member, Rima Hassan.
This was Ms Thunberg's last message before the Madleen was boarded.
"My name is Greta Thunberg and I am from Sweden. If you see this video we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli Occupational Forces or forces that support Israel. 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."
Australian Palestinian activist Tania Safi, who is part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, told SBS Arabic she questions the response from the Australian government and others.
"I think the biggest question to ask is: why do we live in a world where sending humanitarian aid to a genocided population of starving people is such a risk. It shouldn’t be. Why are governments who have all the resources in the world not intervening firstly by stopping the genocide from happening in the first place and by sanctioning Israel?"
Israel had warned it would take whatever measures necessary to stop the boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists and aid from reaching Gaza.
The Freedom Flotilla Coalition says its vessel, which departed from Sicily, is carrying humanitarian aid and was prepared for a possible Israeli intervention.
The Israeli military says the Madleen is now being towed to Ashdod.
In a separate development, Israeli forces took journalists to the European Hospital in Khan Younis, where they claim a Hamas command tunnel was uncovered.
Brigadier-General Effie Defrin accused Hamas of routinely using civilian infrastructure for military purposes.
“We are here in the city of Khan Younis, this is the European Hospital right behind me, the European Hospital in Khan Younis. You can see the very big hole in the ground, right in front of it. This is the entrance, the opening, for a very deep command and control compound, Hamas command and control compound. Yet, this is another example of the cynical use of Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructures, hospitals - again and again we find those infrastructures."
Brigadier-General Defrin says Israeli forces located the body of Mohammed Sinwar in a room under the hospital’s emergency ward.
Mr Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader behind the 7th of October 2023 attacks on Israel.
The I-D-F had previously confirmed that Yahya Sinwar was killed in an operation in Rafah in October of 2024.
His brother Mohammed assumed command in Gaza, but Brigadier-General Defrin says he was later killed on the 13th of May.
“We didn’t target hospitals. It is a big achievement for us hitting in the outskirts of the hospital and around it, without damaging the hospital. Hamas is making a cynical use in the hospitals, and civilians, its own people as human shields. We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms, in one of them, we found, we killed, Mohammed Sinwar, been approved now, he was the brother of Yahya Sinwar, previous leader of this murderous and terror organisation, Hamas. ... Together with him was Muhammad Shabaneh, was the head of the Rafah brigade, and several more terrorists, who died with him.“
Reuters has verified some of the footage released by the I-D-F, specifically the location outside the hospital, based on satellite and archival imagery.
But the tunnel footage itself has not been independently confirmed.
Hamas has not publicly responded to the deaths.
Israel says the hospital sits atop a wider network of tunnels used for command and control, and that it will not be reopened until the area is fully secured.
But far from tunnels, the conflict continues to claim civilian lives.
On the same day, at least 12 Palestinians were killed near two aid distribution points.
Witnesses say they were shot while trying to collect food.
At a nearby hospital family members gathered to identify the dead and mourn their loss.
The privately-run Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by Israel and the United States, says its delivery sites were safe and functioning.
But Israel said its forces fired warning shots after individuals strayed into combat zones.
Gaza health officials report that over 80 people have been killed near distribution points in recent weeks.
Israel contends that militants are often embedded among the crowds.
However, last week [[6 June]] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that Israel is arming local militias in Gaza to counter Hamas.
“On the advice of security officials, we activated clans in Gaza that oppose Hamas. What’s wrong with this ? This is only good and saves the lives of IDF soldiers."
What their role is remains unclear.
Gaza’s Health Ministry says over 54,880 Palestinians have been killed and more than 126,000 wounded since the war began.
Israel claims 20,000 of the dead were militants but has not released evidence to support the figure.
The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is deepening, with 90 per cent of the enclave’s population displaced and starving, many sheltering in overcrowded camps or abandoned schools.
Four Israeli soldiers were killed in Khan Younis when Hamas militants detonated a building the soldiers had entered.
Among them was 21-year-old Staff Sergeant Yoav Raver, whose funeral was held in Sde Warburg, where his father, Leo Raver, gave a eulogy.
"You've taught me humility, camaraderie, friendship, responsibility, severity, dedication to friends, love, oh how I love you my dear son."
The ongoing Middle East conflict escalated sharply with Hamas’ deadly incursion into Israel on the 7th of October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages.
With Yahya and Mohammed Sinwar now confirmed dead, Hamas’s leadership is expected to shift to Izz al-Din al-Haddad, though the group’s political and military future remains uncertain.
Talks mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the U-S remain stalled.
Hamas demands a full Israeli withdrawal and prisoner release.
Israel says it will not stop until Hamas is dismantled entirely.
