Greta Thunberg is detained by Israeli military AGAIN after navy closed in on flotilla as it neared Gaza – as IDF warned they would be treated like terrorists

Greta Thunberg has been hauled off her ‘Freedom Flotilla’ by Israel naval forces as it neared the besieged Gaza Strip.

In footage posted by Israel Foreign Ministry, Thunberg is seen being detained but is described as being ‘safe and healthy.’

While sat on the floor Thunberg takes what appears to be a bottle of water, puts on a green frog bucket and a white coat.

The Israel Foreign Ministry added that she will be transferred to an Israeli port.

‘Already several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port,’ the post said.

‘Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.’

The Global Sumud Flotilla said its vessels were being boarded by the Israeli navy, as it approached Palestinian territory, with cameras taken offline.

The fleet with Thunberg, Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Mandla Mandela, and several European lawmakers aboard, consists of nearly 50 boats and 500 activists and is carrying symbolic amount of humanitarian aid.   

‘High alert. Our vessels are being illegally intercepted,’ organisers of the flotilla said.

‘Cameras are offline and vessels have been boarded by military personnel. 

‘We are actively working to confirm the safety and status of all participants on board.’

Greg Stoker, an American veteran aboard one of the boats in the flotilla, said around a dozen naval vessels with their transponders off had approached it.

‘They are currently hailing our vessels, telling us to turn off our engines and await further instructions or our boats will be seized and we will face the consequences,’ he said in a shaky video while wearing a red life jacket.

A further statement from the flotilla said: ‘Around 8:30pm Gaza time, several vessels of the Global Sumud Flotilla, including the Alma, Sirius and Adara, were illegally intercepted and boarded by Israeli occupation forces in international waters.

‘Beyond the confirmed interceptions, live streams and communications with several other vessels have been lost.’

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said on X that the navy had reached out to the flotilla to ask them to change course and to warn them that they are approaching ‘an active combat zone.’

It reiterated its offer to transfer the aid to Gaza through other channels.

Those calls were echoed by other European governments, including Italy, which had sent a navy ship to follow the flotilla for part of its journey but stopped as they got closer to Gaza’s shores.

Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani confirmed the Israeli intervention and said the operation was expected to take two to three housr hours. 

He told state TV Rai that the boats would be towed to Israel’s port of Ashdod and the activists would be deported in the coming days and that Israeli forces have been told ‘not to use violence’.

 

The international flotilla said it would continue to sail onwards after a tense night in the Mediterranean Sea with over 40 civilian boats aiming to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave. 

‘Every minute we advance a little more,’ Thiago Ávila, one of the flotilla leaders told reporters on Wednesday from aboard the Alma, one of the flotilla’s motherships.

The vessels were sailing in international waters north of Egypt on Wednesday afternoon and had entered what activists and others called a ‘danger zone’ or ‘high risk zone.’ 

While still in international waters, it is an area where the Israeli navy has stopped other boats attempting to break its blockade in the past and which the flotilla has been warned not to cross.

There are fears it could end in disaster as the 500-strong crew has ignored repeated warnings and refused to hand over the aid to be delivered by land crossing. 

Overnight, the activists said two Israeli warships aggressively approached two of their boats, circling them and jamming their communications, including the live cameras on board.

‘It was an intimidation act. They wanted us to see them,’ said Lisi Proença, another activist who was on board the Sirius, a vessel that was targeted alongside the Alma.

After the close encounter overnight, the military vessels eventually left and the flotilla continued on its journey, broadcasting live cameras from many of its boats.

By Wednesday afternoon, the atmosphere appeared to be more relaxed on board the decks of some of the sailboats that broadcast their journeys through 24/7 livestreams. 

Some activists held up messages of solidarity with people in Gaza and chanted ‘Free Palestine!’ on camera. Music could be heard playing in the background. 

Flotilla participants have also flooded social media with videos of their voyage and constant updates.

If undisturbed, the flotilla, which began its journey from the Spanish port of Barcelona a month ago, aims to reach the shores of Gaza by Thursday morning, the group said.

However, activists said that was unlikely and that they were expecting Israeli authorities to try to stop them at any moment, as they have done in past attempts.

Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the flotilla a provocation and warned them to stop and transfer their aid through other channels into Gaza. 

‘It is not too late,’ he posted on X.

Israel’s government has accused some of the flotilla members of being linked to Hamas, while providing little evidence to support the claim. 

The last stunt by Ms Thunberg, 22, was dealt with swiftly by the IDF who intercepted her lone vessel, deported those on board, and reported that the activists had eaten most of the aid.

But officials warned this flotilla of 44 ships is ‘a different ball game’ and concern is growing there could be a repeat of the 2010 Mavi Marmara disaster where nine activists were killed when Israeli commandos stormed vessels.

‘The scale of this flotilla is unprecedented,’ an Israeli official told the Daily Mail.

‘We fear some participants have other agendas that could spark escalation. Our aim is to handle the situation peacefully and avoid provocation, but we will act in accordance with the law.’

Activists have strongly rejected the accusations and said Israel was trying to justify potential attacks on them.

European governments, including Spain and Italy, which had sent their navy ships to escort the flotilla during part of its journey, urged the activists to turn back and avoid confrontation. 

But while Italy’s Premier Giorgia Meloni said late Tuesday the flotilla’s actions risked undermining US President Donald Trump’s recent proposal for resolving the war in Gaza, Spain’s prime minister defended them.

‘We must remember it is a humanitarian mission that wouldn’t be taking place if the Israeli government had allowed for the entry of aid,’ Pedro Sánchez told reporters on Wednesday.

Spaniards taking part would benefit from full diplomatic protection, he added.

‘They present no threat nor danger to Israel,’ he said.]

The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea stipulates that a state only has jurisdiction up to 12 nautical miles (19 kilometers) from its shores. 

In general, states don’t have the right to seize ships in international waters, though armed conflict is an exception to this.

Yuval Shany, an expert on international law at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said that as long as Israel’s blockade of Gaza is ‘militarily justified’ – meant to keep out weapons – and the ship intended to break the siege, Israel can intercept the vessel after prior warning. 

Whether the blockade is militarily justified and the legality of the blockade is a point of contention.

But the flotilla argues they are a civilian, unarmed group and that the passage of humanitarian aid is guaranteed in international law.

The flotilla’s advance comes as Israeli forces killed at least 31 Palestinians in Gaza on Tuesday, local Hamas-run hospitals said, as questions churned about Trump’s peace plan aimed at ending the nearly two-year war in Gaza.

Hamas announced it would review the proposal with group members and other Palestinian factions before reaching a decision. 

While the proposal offers an end to the fighting, guarantees the flow of humanitarian aid and promises reconstruction, the Palestinian militant group will have to disarm, something it has rejected in the past. 

Also, Gaza and its more than 2 million Palestinians would be put under international governance for the foreseeable future.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backs the plan, and several leaders of Arab countries have applauded it.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 66,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry. 

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.

Its campaign was triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which terrorists killed some 1,200 people and abducted 250 others. 

Most of the hostages have been freed under previous ceasefire deals.