Israeli Troops Board Aid Yacht Headed for Gaza, Activists Report

Israeli troops have boarded a yacht named Madleen attempting to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, defying Israel’s naval blockade, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC). The incident occurred off the Egyptian coast, with the FFC reporting a loss of communication with the vessel on Monday. A photo posted by the group on Telegram showed passengers, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, wearing life jackets with their hands raised.

Israel’s foreign ministry confirmed the yacht was being escorted to Israel’s shores, stating that passengers would be returned to their home countries. The Madleen, which departed from Sicily, Italy, on Friday, carried a symbolic amount of aid, including rice and baby formula, and had citizens from Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Turkey on board.

The FFC condemned the boarding, releasing pre-recorded videos from activists, including Thunberg, claiming they were “intercepted and kidnapped” by Israeli forces. The group described the vessel as an unarmed civilian ship in international waters and called Israel’s blockade, in place since 2007, illegal. “We will not be intimidated. The world is watching,” said FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya.

Israel defends the blockade as necessary to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas militants, with Defense Minister Israel Katz warning that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would act to stop the yacht. Katz had previously labeled the effort a “hate flotilla” aimed at breaching the blockade. Israel’s foreign ministry contrasted the yacht’s “media provocation” with the delivery of over 1,200 aid trucks to Gaza in the past two weeks, alongside 11 million meals distributed through the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

The incident echoes a 2010 event when Israeli commandos killed 10 activists aboard the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara during a similar aid mission. The ongoing blockade and recent restrictions on aid have drawn criticism, with UN human rights chief Volker Türk warning last week that Palestinians in Gaza face “the grimmest of choices: die from starvation or risk being killed” while seeking limited food supplies.

The conflict stems from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, launched after a Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, killed about 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reports at least 54,880 deaths in the territory since the campaign began nearly 20 months ago.