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Israel had vowed to prevent the vessel from reaching Gaza, saying its military would use “any means necessary” to stop it from breaching a naval blockade.
June 8, 2025Updated 9:57 p.m. ET
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said early on Monday morning that a Gaza-bound ship carrying a dozen pro-Palestinian activists and some aid had been diverted toward Israeli shores and that its passengers were expected to return to their home countries.
Israel had vowed on Sunday to prevent the ship from reaching Gaza, saying its military would use “any means necessary” to stop it from breaching an Israeli naval blockade of the enclave.
The civilian ship, called the Madleen, has been operating under the auspices of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, an international grass-roots campaign that opposes the nearly two-decade-old blockade of Gaza. The ship set sail from Sicily on June 1. The passengers included the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a member of the European Parliament.
“The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel,” the Israeli foreign ministry wrote on social media on Monday. It accused “Greta and others” of attempting “to stage a media provocation whose sole purpose was to gain publicity.” The ministry later posted video of what it said were the passengers, who were wearing life jackets and being offered sandwiches and water.
The posts came soon after the Freedom Flotilla Coalition announced that alarms had sounded and drones were over the ship, then said it had lost contact with the Madleen. The group said the activists had been “kidnapped” by the Israeli military.
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