Greta Thunberg detained as Global Sumud Flotilla bound for Gaza is intercepted by Israeli military
Israeli forces have boarded boats with foreign activists carrying aid to Gaza and took them to an Israeli port, disrupting a protest that had become one of most high-profile symbols of opposition to Israel’s blockade of the enclave.
A video from the Israeli foreign ministry verified by Reuters showed the most prominent of the flotilla’s passengers, Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
“Several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port,” the Israeli foreign ministry said on X.
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The Global Sumud Flotilla, which was carrying medicine and food to Gaza, consisted of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists.
Its progress across the Mediterranean Sea had garnered international attention as nations including Turkey, Spain and Italy sent boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance.
Turkey’s foreign ministry called Israel’s “attack” on the flotilla “an act of terror” that endangered the lives of innocent civilians, while spontaneous protests broke out across Italy in response to the Israeli raid.
The mission triggered repeated warnings from Israel to turn back even as activists and governments lent their support.
The flotilla’s organisers denounced Wednesday’s raid as a “war crime”. They said the military used aggressive tactics, including the use of water cannon but that no one was harmed.
“Multiple vessels ... were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli Occupation Forces in international waters,” the organisers said in a statement. Ankara said that steps had begun for Israel to release Turks and others on board, while Spain called on Israel to protect the safety and rights of activists.
“Tonight’s reports are very concerning. This is a peaceful mission to shine a light on a horrific humanitarian catastrophe,” Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Harris said on X.
The boats were about 70 nautical miles off the war-ravaged enclave when they were intercepted, inside a zone that Israel is policing to stop any boats approaching. The organisers said their communications had been scrambled, including the use of a live camera feed from some of the boats.
According to the flotilla’s own ship tracking data, seven boats had been intercepted or stopped. Organisers remained defiant, saying in a statement that the flotilla “will continue undeterred”.
Israel’s navy had previously warned the flotilla it was approaching an active combat zone and violating a lawful blockade, and asked them to change course. It had offered to transfer any aid peacefully through safe channels to Gaza.
The flotilla is the latest sea-borne attempt to break Israel’s blockade of Gaza, much of which has been turned into a wasteland by almost two years of war.
Israel has imposed a naval blockade on Gaza since Hamas took control of the coastal enclave in 2007 and there have been several previous attempts by activists to deliver aid by sea.
In 2010, nine activists were killed after Israeli soldiers boarded a flotilla of six ships manned by 700 pro-Palestinian activists from 50 countries.
In June 2025, Israeli naval forces detained Thunberg and 11 crew members from a small ship organised by a pro-Palestinian group called the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as they approached Gaza.
Israel began its Gaza offensive after the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel in which some 1200 people were killed and 251 taken as hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies. The offensive has killed more than 65,000 people in Gaza, local health authorities say.
