“Israel” Preparing to Deport Gaza Aid Boat Activists

By Staff, Agencies

Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg and other activists whose Gaza-bound aid ship was intercepted by "Israeli" naval forces have been taken to a "Tel Aviv" airport for deportation, "Israel" said on Tuesday.

The activist group departed Italy on 1 June aboard the Madleen carrying a symbolic amount of food and supplies for Gaza, whose entire population the UN has warned is at risk of famine.

"Israeli" occupying forces [IOF] intercepted the boat in international waters on Monday and towed it to the port of "Ashdod".

“The passengers of the ‘Selfie Yacht’ arrived at Ben Gurion airport to depart from 'Israel' and return to their home countries,” the "Israeli" foreign ministry said on X.

“Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave 'Israel' will be brought before a judicial authority.”

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition [FFC], the group operating the Madleen, said all 12 campaigners were being processed and transferred into the custody of "Israel".

“They may be permitted to fly out of 'Tel Aviv' as early as tonight,” it said on social media.

Video released earlier by the group showed the activists with their hands up as IOF boarded the vessel, with one of them saying nobody was injured.

The Madleen was intercepted about 185km west of the coast of Gaza, according to coordinates from the FFC.

French president Emmanuel Macron requested that the six French nationals aboard the boat “be allowed to return to France as soon as possible”, a presidential official said.

Turkey condemned the interception as a “heinous attack” and Iran denounced it as “a form of piracy” in international waters.

On Sunday, "Israeli" War minister Yisrael Katz said the naval blockade on Gaza, in place for years before the "Israel"-Hamas war, was needed to prevent Palestinian resistance from importing weapons.

However, "Israel" is facing mounting pressure to allow more aid into Gaza to alleviate widespread shortages of food and basic supplies.

In what organizers called a “symbolic act”, hundreds of people launched a land convoy on Monday from Tunisia with the aim of reaching Gaza.

Organizers of the nine-bus convoy say they are not bringing aid into Gaza, but rather aiming to carry out a “symbolic act” by breaking the blockade on the territory. The convoy is set to pass through Libya and Egypt, although Cairo has yet to provide passage permits, an activist on the convoy said.