Israel Boards Gaza-Bound Activist Aid Boat, Detains Greta Thunberg

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has accused Greta Thunberg and fellow activists of attempting to ’stage a media provocation.'

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, shortly before leaving on a boat to the Gaza Strip, speaks to journalists in Catania, Italy, on June 1, 2025. Salvatore Cavalli/AP Photo

Israel intercepted a boat heading for the Gaza Strip on June 9 and detained Greta Thunberg along with other pro-Palestinian activists.

Activists from the Freedom Flotilla Coalition chartered the sailboat Madleen, loaded it with humanitarian supplies, and departed from the port of Catania, Italy, on June 1, bound for the Gaza Strip.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition wrote on social media platform X, “SOS! the volunteers on ‘Madleen’ have been kidnapped by Israeli forces.”

The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted a video on X of Thunberg and the other activists wearing orange life preservers.

“All the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed,” it wrote in the post. “They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over.”

The flotilla coalition said in a statement that the Madleen had been “unlawfully boarded” in international waters, 120 miles from the Gaza Strip, at about 3 a.m. local time. It stated that the crew had been abducted.

It stated that the boat’s cargo of food, baby milk formula, and medical supplies had been confiscated.

In the statement, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition’s attorney, Huwaida Arraf, said Israel had no legal authority to detain international volunteers aboard the Madleen.

“This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the [International Court of Justice’s] binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza,” Arraf said. “These volunteers are not subject to Israeli jurisdiction and cannot be criminalized for delivering aid or challenging an illegal blockade—their detention is arbitrary, unlawful, and must end immediately.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated, in another post on X: “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.”

Thunberg Accused of Publicity Stunt

The ministry accused Thunberg and the others of attempting to “stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity.”

The ministry stated that the boat contained less than a single truckload of aid but that the goods on board would be transferred to the Gaza Strip through “humanitarian channels.”

It stated that 1,200 aid trucks had entered the Gaza Strip from Israel in the past two weeks and that the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had distributed almost 11 million meals to Palestinian civilians there.

“There are ways to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip—they do not involve Instagram selfies,” the ministry stated.

An Israeli military spokesman, Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, said the Madleen, carrying Thunberg and the others, was expected to arrive in the Port of Ashdod later on June 9.

It is not clear whether it is being towed by an Israeli naval vessel or is moving by itself.

In a pre-recorded video message released by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition on X shortly before the boat was intercepted, Thunberg 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.”

Thunberg, now 22, first became famous as a climate activist as a child.

She began campaigning in 2018 at age 15 and the following year gained international recognition when she was allowed to address the U.N. Climate Change Conference and the European Parliament.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg stands near a Palestinian flag on the sailboat Madleen in the port of Catania, Italy, on June 1, 2025. Salvatore Cavalli/AP Photo

Thunberg was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year in 2019.

She has recently focused her activism on Israel and the Palestinian issue.

In May 2024, in Malmo, Sweden, she took part in a protest against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest.

One of the other activists on board the Madleen with Thunberg was Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament from France who is of Palestinian descent.

In April, Israel revoked the visas of Hassan and 26 other French lawmakers.

Hassan, 33, was among six French citizens on the Madleen. The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said he had asked Israel to allow them to return home as soon as possible.

The conflict in the Gaza Strip began on Oct. 7, 2023, when the Hamas terrorist group crossed the border into Israel, killing 1,20o Israelis and taking 250 hostages into the Gaza Strip.

On June 5, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) recovered the bodies of two hostages, Judi Lynn Weinstein and Gad Haggai.

The IDF stated that it believes that Hamas is still holding 56 hostages, although only 23 of them are believed to be alive.

The Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Gaza Strip stated that 54,800 Palestinians have died since Oct. 7, 2023, and about 2.3 million Palestinians are reliant on aid, which the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has been distributing.

On June 3, the IDF accused Hamas of spreading “false information” after the health ministry stated that 27 Palestinian civilians were shot dead by Israeli troops on June 3 as they headed toward an aid distribution site.

The International Committee of the Red Cross stated on June 3 that its field hospital in Rafah, Gaza Strip, experienced a mass casualty event that left 27 people dead. The organization reiterated its call for civilians in the area to be protected.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.