ALABWABA - The Israeli army had boarded the Madleen ship, known as the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, according to a Telegram post shared by the ship's operators.
According to the Telegram post, the Israeli soldiers entered the Madleen ship at on early Monday morning, at around 3 a.m. local time, and all activists on the ship, including Greta Thunberg, were arrested.
The Israeli military's naval unit, Shayetet 13, is taking the ship to the Port of Ashdod.
The Defense Ministry said that the Madleen flotilla, referring to it as the "selfie yacht," had been redirected to Israeli shores and that all passengers will be sent to their home countries.
In a post on X, the Israeli Foreign Ministry wrote: "All the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed. They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over."
Furthermore, Defense Minister Israel Katz had also instructed the army to show activists on board the ship to see footage from Hamas's October 7 attacks.
"It is appropriate that antisemitic Greta and her fellow 'Hamas supporters' see exactly who this 'terrorist organization' they came to support and whom they are working for is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself," he said.
Who is on board of the Madleen Ship?
- Greta Thunberg – Swedish climate activist
- Rima Hassan – French-Palestinian Member of European Parliament
- Yasemin Acar – Germany
- Baptiste Andre – France
- Thiago Avila – Brazil
- Omar Faiad – France; Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent
- Pascal Maurieras – France
- Yanis Mhamdi – France
- Suayb Ordu – Turkey
- Sergio Toribio – Spain
- Marco van Rennes – The Netherlands
- Reva Viard – France
