Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, has congratulated the Israeli army on the “quick and safe takeover” of the Madleen , the Gaza-bound aid vessel.
Confirming that the passengers onboard – including climate activist Greta Thunberg and French MEP Rima Hassan – will be transported to the port of Ashdod, Katz added that he had instructed the IDF to “show the flotilla passengers the video of the horrors of the October 7 massacre.”
Referring to Thunberg personally, as well as the other activists on board, Katz said he wanted them to “see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organization they came to support and for whom they work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself.”
The current war in Gaza began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on 7 October 2023 that killed more than 1,200 people, according to an Israeli tally.
Gaza’s health ministry says over 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of that campaign.
The Swedish foreign ministry said it was in contact with Israeli authorities.
“Should the need for consular support arise, the embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will assess how we can best help the Swedish citizen/Greta Thunberg resolve her situation,” a Swedish Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in a written statement to Reuters.
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer has hit out at Greta Thunberg after her Gaza aid boat was detained.
Speaking at a press conference, he addressed her directly and asked “who is really feeding Gaza and who is really feeding their own ego?”.
Speaking in a typically combative style, Mencer went on:
For the last two weeks alone, Israel has facilitated more than 1,200 trucks laden with aid to enter Gaza.
The very latest figures from Gaza are that close to 11 million meals have been delivered directly to Gazans.
To those that really do wish to get real aid to Gaza, there are proper, organised channels.
Palestinians flee their homes after the Israeli army issued evacuation orders, in Jabalia.
Iran has said it will soon start releasing information from a hoard of Israeli nuclear secrets it claims to have obtained, as European countries push for a vote this week on reimposing UN sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme.
The unverified claims by Iranian intelligence of a massive leak of Israeli secrets may be designed to turn the focus away from what Iran argues is its own excessively monitored civil nuclear programme.
On Sunday, Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, claimed Tehran had obtained “a vast collection of strategic and sensitive [Israeli] documents, including plans and data on the nuclear facilities”. He added evidence would be released shortly, and implied some of the documentation was linked to Israel’s arrest of two Israeli nationals, Roi Mizrahi and Almog Attias, over alleged spying for Iran.
Even within Iran there is scepticism that Iranian agents could have obtained such dramatic intelligence. The claim may be designed to warn off Israel from acting on its repeated threat to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites since Iranian insight into Israel’s own nuclear programme would increase the risk of effective Iranian reprisals.
European powers are preparing to press for a vote at the quarterly board meeting of the nuclear inspectorate the IAEA in Vienna, which starts on Monday, that could lead to the reimposition of UN sanctions in October. France, Germany and the UK will cite a 20-page comprehensive report commissioned from the IAEA secretariat on Iran’s failure to comply with the nuclear deal agreed in 2015, and Tehran’s years-long failure to answer questions about aspects of its previous nuclear programme.
France on Monday said it would work to ensure the rapid return home of French citizens aboard a boat carrying aid bound for Gaza that was intercepted by Israeli security forces, AFP reported.
President Emmanuel Macron has requested that the six French nationals aboard the Madleen “be allowed to return to France as soon as possible”, a presidential official said, asking not to be named, while foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said that Paris would work “to facilitate their swift return to France”.
Adalah, a rights group in Israel that said it was representing the activists, said Israel had “no legal authority” to take over the ship because it was in international waters and because it was headed not to Israel but to the “territorial waters of the state of Palestine”.
“The arrest of the unarmed activists, who operated in a civilian manner to provide humanitarian aid, amounts to a serious breach of international law,” Adalah said in a statement, adding:
Adalah demands the immediate disclosure of the activists’ location and legal status, and their access to legal counsel to enable legal representation before Israeli authorities and tribunals.
Adalah will pursue legal actions to secure the activists’ safety and release.
An Israeli man confronts Israeli activists holding placards and waving Palestinian flags as they protest near the port of Ashdod, Israel.
Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s labour minister and one of the country’s three deputy prime ministers, has criticised Israel’s seizure of the boat and called for a “clear and firm response” from the EU.
“I strongly condemn the seizure of the Madleen, which was carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza,” she wrote on Bluesky. “This violation of international law demands a clear and firm response from the EU. All my solidarity to the volunteers who are being held. We call for their freeing as soon as possible. #AllEyesOnMadleen“
Spain’s socialist-led government has been one of the most outspoken European critics of Israel’s prosecution of its war in Gaza.
Last month, Israel said it had summoned the Spanish ambassador for a formal reprimand after the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, described Israel as a “genocidal state”.
Sánchez made the remarks during an exchange in the Spanish parliament in which his government was accused of continuing to trade with Israel. “I want to clarify one thing,” the prime minister said. “We don’t trade with a genocidal state. We don’t.”
The prime minister has previously expressed “genuine doubts” about whether Israel was complying with international humanitarian law in its offensive in Gaza, while Díaz has said “the genocide of the Palestinian people cannot go unpunished”.
Spain’s foreign ministry has summoned an Israeli diplomat to a meeting today in protest at the seizing of the Madleen, according to El País. A Spanish citizen, Sergio Toribio, is among the activists on the boat.
“The foreign ministry is in contact with the Spaniard in question, with his family and with the Israeli foreign ministry, and is exercising consular protection with regard to our citizen,” foreign ministry sources told the paper.
A pre-recorded video posted on social media shows Toribio holding up his Spanish passport and saying: “My name is Segio Toribio from Spain. If you are seeing this video, we have been intercepted at sea and I have been kidnapped by Israeli occupation forces, or forces of a country complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians.
I appeal to all my comrades, friends and family to put pressure on the Spanish government to demand my release as soon as possible.”
Our correspondent Emma Graham-Harrison in Jerusalem has this report on the seizure of the Madleen
Israel’s military took control of a boat trying to deliver food to Palestinians in Gaza in the early hours of Monday morning, and brought its crew of activists including Greta Thunberg to an Israeli port.
The Madleen was making a symbolic attempt to break to the blockade of Gaza and raise awareness of a looming “starvation crisis”.
It was never likely to get through Israel’s naval blockade of the territory, where UN-backed experts have warned of looming famine, and dozens of people have been killed by Israeli forces trying to reach food distribution centres.
Even attempting to reach Gaza by boat is risky. In May, another boat sailing as part of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organised the Madleen’s voyage, caught fire off Malta and issued an SOS after what the group said was an attack by Israeli drones. Israel’s military declined to comment.
Read the full story here
Turkey has also condemned Israel’s seizure of the Madleen and accused Israel of acting “as a terror state”.
Turkish activists Suayb Ordu is among the 12-strong crew. The Turkish foreign ministry called the move a “clear violation of international law”.
It said the intervention threatened maritime security and “once again demonstrates that Israel is acting as a terror state.”
Iran has condemned Israel’s interception of the Madleen, the Gaza-bound aid vessel, describing it as an act of piracy, according to Agence France-Presse.
“The assault on this flotilla – since it happened in international waters – is considered a form of piracy under international law,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a press briefing in Tehran on Monday.
