Greta Thunberg Gaza flotilla latest: Aid ship reaches port after Israel vows to deport all activists on board

Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s Palestinian population.

Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, but later relented under US pressure.

In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine.

The 12-person Madleen set sail for Gaza eight days ago from the port of Catania in Sicily.

The Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), responsible for the boat, said the trip aimed “to break Israel’s more than 17-year illegal and inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip”.

The ship’s location was being monitored live by Forensic Architecture using a Garmin live tracker on board before that tracker was switched off when Israel intercepted the vessel.

Speaking aboard the Madleen last week, Ms Thunberg told Middle East Eye: “We have promised ourselves and we have promised the Palestinian people to do everything we can.

“When our governments are failing us … then it falls on us to step up and be the adults in the room.

“We are just human beings, very concerned about what’s happening, and do not accept what is going on.”

A convoy of buses and private cars have departed from Tunisia to Gaza as part of efforts to spotlight Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid to the territory.

The overland effort — organized independently but moved up to coincide with the flotilla — is made up of activists, lawyers and medical professionals from North Africa.

It plans to traverse Tunisia, Libya and Egypt before reaching Rafah, the border crossing with Egypt that has remained largely closed since Israel’s military took control of the Gaza side in May 2024.

The Tunisian civil society groups behind the convoy said their aim is to demand “the immediate lifting of the unjust siege on the strip.”

They said that Arab governments haven’t pushed enough to end the 20-month war between Israel and Hamas.

“This convoy speaks directly to our people in Gaza and says, ‘You are not alone. We share your pain and suffering,’” Yahia Sarri, one of the convoy’s Algerian organizers, wrote on social media.

The North African activists do not expect their convoy to be allowed into Gaza. Regardless, it provides “a message of challenge and will,” said Saher al-Masri, a Tunis-based Palestinian activist.

There have been at least eleven occasions when Israel has intercepted activists or pro-Palestinian militants attempting to break its blockade on Gaza, we can report.

Israel’s blockade on Gaza has been in place since late 2007.

The most significant incident happened in May 2010, when a six-boat flotilla was intercepted by the Israeli navy around 90 miles from Gaza. Nine people were killed after Israeli commandos opened fire on activists, having boarded the flagship vessel, the Mavi Marmara, Israel claims the activists began attacking the soldiers first. Neither account has been confirmed.

There were additional, major attempts by activists in July 2011, June 2015 and August 2018. The vessels were all boarded without incident by Israeli forces. Like the Madleen, several were taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

Several smaller efforts were also intercepted by Israel, largely in the two years between 2009 and 2011.

In March 2011, the Israelis intercepted a freighter called the Victoria in the Mediterranean with 50 tonnes of concealed weapons allegedly bound for Gaza.

Last month, two drones hit another vessel destined for Gaza while it was off the coast of Malta. It was run by the same organisation that manages the Madleen, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The FFC claimed those drones were Israeli. Israel declined to comment.

Israel and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of a blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007.

Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from importing arms, while critics say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s Palestinian population.

Israel sealed off Gaza from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, but later relented under US pressure.

In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine.

US president Donald Trump has said he thinks activist Greta Thunberg is a “strange person”.

Speaking to reporters in the White House, he said: “Well, she’s a strange person. She’s a young, angry person. I don’t know if it’s real anger. It’s hard to believe, actually, but I saw what happened. She’s certainly different…anger management. I think she has to go to anger management class. That’s my primary recommendation for her.”