Israeli naval forces have detained Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg after boarding vessels in the Global Sumud Flotilla that were attempting to deliver aid to Gaza, with officials saying the passengers would be taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod and deported. A video released by Israel’s foreign ministry showed a uniformed serviceman handing Thunberg her belongings; the ministry wrote that “Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.” The interception took place on October 1–2 as dozens of civilian boats drew near waters off the Gaza Strip amid stepped-up Israeli military operations and continuing international pressure over the enclave’s humanitarian crisis.
Organisers said at least 14 to 20 vessels were halted around 70 nautical miles from Gaza, while other boats continued sailing in loose formation toward the territory. Israeli authorities described the area as an active combat zone and reiterated that any aid could be transferred through established channels rather than via a flotilla that officials argued was designed to provoke confrontation. The foreign ministry, which has referred to the convoy as the “Hamas-Sumud flotilla,” said passengers were being taken to port “safely,” a formulation reflecting an undertaking conveyed to Italy’s foreign minister that force would not be used in the operation.
The flotilla, comprising more than 40 small craft carrying roughly 500 participants — including parliamentarians, lawyers, medical workers and high-profile campaigners — set off in stages from European ports in late summer to test Israel’s naval blockade, in place since Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007. Its progress across the Mediterranean drew sustained attention from foreign governments, with several capitals dispatching surveillance assets and consular teams to monitor their nationals. Video streamed from the boats showed passengers sitting in circles on deck and communicating with shore teams until connections degraded as Israeli vessels closed in; organisers accused Israel of jamming communications as interdictions began.
Thunberg, 22, had boarded one of the ships as part of a renewed maritime push after smaller convoys were stopped earlier in the year. She was among a dozen people detained in June when Israeli forces seized the Madleen near Gaza and towed it to Israel, where crew members were processed and deported. Since beginning school strikes at 15 and helping catalyse the Fridays for Future youth movement, she has aligned her advocacy in recent years with calls for a ceasefire and civilian protection in Gaza, joining street protests and, more recently, maritime missions. The flotilla’s organisers framed her presence as part of a broader effort to keep public attention on Gaza’s shortages of food, medicine and fuel.
Ahead of this week’s interception, Thunberg publicly rejected claims by Israeli officials that the mission was linked to Hamas financing and insisted the boats were carrying baby formula, medical supplies and food. “Israel think they can get away with only recycling their old arguments to lay the groundwork for violence against us,” she wrote, adding that the participants were not “terrorists” or “running errands for Hamas” and that stopping the flotilla would violate international humanitarian and maritime law. Her comments followed the ministry’s publication of documents that it said showed militant ties to the convoy, an assertion flotilla organisers and participants dismissed as a smear.
Israel’s national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, had signalled a harsher posture toward flotilla passengers in the weeks before the intercepts, saying he would move to designate them as “terrorists,” seize their boats and hold detainees in prisons for terrorists without amenities. “We will not allow individuals who support terrorism to live in comfort,” he said as the ships approached the eastern Mediterranean. Rights advocates and flotilla organisers condemned the statements as intimidation and an attempt to criminalise a civilian aid mission; Israeli officials maintained that the policy reflected wartime security imperatives.
The foreign ministry said the boarding operations were conducted safely and emphasised that any aid could be routed through approved channels into Gaza. Activists and crew, some of whom engaged in passive resistance by sitting on deck in lines, alleged that Israeli forces used tactics including water cannon and communications disruption. The Associated Press and other outlets reported that at least some stops occurred in international waters, an area where Israel argues it can act under the laws of armed conflict and where flotilla members say state jurisdiction is limited, a legal clash that has shadowed previous interdictions.
Already several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port.
— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) October 1, 2025
Greta and her friends are safe and healthy. pic.twitter.com/PA1ezier9s
Foreign reaction was immediate. Turkey called the operation an “act of terror,” and its prosecutors opened an inquiry into the detention of Turkish citizens aboard seized vessels. Colombia expelled Israel’s diplomatic delegation and terminated its free trade agreement with Israel following the detention of Colombian nationals in the convoy. Malaysia condemned the detentions and demanded the release of its citizens. In Italy, unions announced a general strike in solidarity with the flotilla after demonstrations erupted in several cities. The diplomatic responses underscored how the maritime effort had become a proxy for wider disagreements over Israel’s conduct of the war and the scope of its maritime enforcement.
Italy’s foreign minister, Antonio Tajani, said Israel assured him its forces would avoid violence; his ministry worked with embassies to prepare consular support for Italians expected to be taken to Ashdod and expelled. In Israel, media carried footage showing Thunberg in custody and reported that detainees would be processed and deported as in earlier cases, a sequence similar to the June seizure of the Madleen and the prior diversion of the Handala. Australian officials said they were liaising with Israeli authorities over their citizens and noted that those who refused to sign deportation orders would likely appear before tribunals before removal.
Israeli diplomats rejected the flotilla’s presentation of itself as a neutral humanitarian exercise. “This systematic refusal [to hand over the aid] demonstrates that the objective is not humanitarian, but provocative,” Ambassador Jonathan Peled wrote on X, urging the convoy to abandon its plan and allow any supplies to be transferred via recognised channels. The foreign ministry’s messaging portrayed the operation as necessary to maintain the blockade and prevent infiltration or materiel transfer to Hamas, a rationale the government has advanced since imposing the naval cordon after 2007.
The flotilla’s backers said the voyage was lawful, non-violent and intended to open a civilian corridor into Gaza amid shortages that aid agencies describe as acute after nearly two years of war. On board, participants included lawmakers from Europe, human rights defenders, medical volunteers and public figures from multiple countries. Some boats sailed under national flags, and tracking feeds shared by organisers showed a loose convoy approach as Israeli units manoeuvred to interdict. Earlier in the week, live feeds showed naval craft shadowing lead vessels and circling in close proximity; passengers used satellite phones and social media to communicate their positions before links fell silent during the boarding.
Thunberg’s prior confrontation with Israeli forces in June and her recent public statements positioned her among the highest-profile faces of the maritime campaign, guaranteeing unusual visibility for the operation and for Israel’s response. In June, she and 11 others were detained and later deported after a small ship organised by a pro-Palestinian coalition was seized near Gaza, an episode Reuters documented as part of a broader pattern of interdictions. Her advocates argue that her involvement has drawn attention to the blockade at a time of intense military activity in Gaza; critics of the flotilla argue that celebrity participation amplifies a political stunt that complicates wartime logistics and ignores legitimate security threats.
As the detained boats moved toward Ashdod, Israeli outlets echoed the foreign ministry’s insistence that conditions aboard were controlled and that detainees were being processed. The Times of Israel carried the ministry’s statement and video, while Washington Post and Guardian reports situated the interdictions within a sequence of encounters as the convoy neared the exclusion zone. Organisers insisted that some vessels remained at sea and would attempt to continue, while urging European governments to dispatch assets to monitor what they called unlawful seizures on the high seas.
Israel’s handling of past flotillas hovered over the operation. In 2010, nine activists were killed when commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara during an attempt to reach Gaza, an incident that strained Israel’s relations with Turkey and sharpened international scrutiny of the blockade. Israeli officials said that the current operation was designed — and internationally briefed — to avoid violence, and European governments said they had sought assurances on passenger safety as the convoy approached the area policed by Israel’s navy. The foreign ministry’s reference to “safe” interdictions and plans for expedited deportations appeared intended to signal that detainees would be moved through established procedures.
In the hours before the boarding, Thunberg and flotilla spokespeople had argued that official rhetoric sought to cast them as security threats and thereby justify more aggressive action. “The world sees through their lies,” she wrote, asserting that any interception would violate international law and that criminalising passengers as “terrorists” was part of a broader campaign to discredit the mission. Ben-Gvir’s earlier pledge to hold convoy members in facilities for terrorists, and his remark that those who “support terrorism” would not “live in comfort,” helped crystallise the debate over how Israel would treat detainees drawn from dozens of countries if they reached its territory.
By Thursday, the outlines of the legal and diplomatic process were clear: passengers would be taken to Ashdod, questioned and asked to sign deportation orders; those refusing could appear before tribunals before removal, according to foreign ministry messaging and consular briefings reported by international media. The Israeli government emphasised that the naval cordon remains in force and that maritime attempts to breach it will continue to be intercepted, while offering to transfer cargo through approved mechanisms. Organisers vowed to keep sailing and said that as long as famine and siege persisted in Gaza, symbolic convoys would continue to test the blockade at sea.
Reactions among passengers reflected familiar arguments around the mission’s intent and the state’s framing. One activist said there were “nobody in this flotilla that has any militant contacts,” adding that official statements “make us sound like we’re terrorists.” Supporters of the operation portrayed the interdictions as a political manoeuvre to deprive Gaza of independent channels for relief and visibility; Israeli officials described the enterprise as a publicity drive that disregards combat realities and risks escalation near a contested coastline. With Thunberg in custody for the second time this year after a Gaza-bound voyage, both sides appeared to settle into positions that have defined previous confrontations at sea.
As processing began, Israeli outlets amplified the government’s assurance that the operation ended without incident and that detainees, including Thunberg, would be deported. Internationally, authorities said they were tracking their nationals and preparing assistance at Ashdod. The flotilla’s organisers, citing the continued movement of some vessels and the presence of parliamentary observers among their ranks, called for governments to press Israel to release the boats and passengers and to allow aid to be delivered directly to Gaza. The immediate next steps — transport to port, consular access and removal — followed a script observed in earlier interdictions, but the political resonance of Thunberg’s detention ensured that the episode reverberated far beyond the Mediterranean.