Israeli forces have stopped a Gaza-bound aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists and diverted it to Israel, enforcing a longstanding blockade of the Palestinian territory.

The British-flagged yacht Madleen, operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), left Sicily on Friday and had hoped to reach Gaza later in the day, when the interception occurred.

Among the 12-strong crew are Swedish climate campaigner Thunberg and Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.

“The crew of the Freedom Flotilla was arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2am,” Hassan posted on X.

A photograph showed the crew seated on the boat, all wearing life jackets, with their hands in the air.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry said “The ‘selfie yacht’ of the ‘celebrities’ is safely making its way to the shores of Israel”, in a social media post early on Monday.

“The passengers are expected to return to their home countries.”

The Israeli Foreign Ministry also posted video on X showing what appeared to be Israeli military personnel handing out sandwiches and water to the activists wearing orange life vests.

“The show is over,” it said.

All the passengers of the ‘selfie yacht’ are safe and unharmed. They were provided with sandwiches and water. The show is over. pic.twitter.com/tLZZYcspJO

— Israel Foreign Ministry (@IsraelMFA) June 9, 2025

Earlier the Israeli Foreign Ministry posted a video showing the Israeli Navy communicating with the Madleen over a loudspeaker, urging it to change course.

It said the humanitarian aid aboard the ship would be transferred to Gaza through established channels.

The FFC, which had organised the voyage to deliver humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip and protest Israel’s blockade and wartime conduct, said the activists had been “kidnapped by Israeli forces” and released pre-recorded messages from them.

After a 10-week blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas, Israel started allowing some basic aid into Gaza last month, but humanitarian workers have warned of famine unless the blockade is lifted and Israel ends its military offensive.

An attempt last month by FFC flotilla to reach Gaza by sea failed after another of the group’s vessels was attacked by two drones while sailing in international waters off Malta. The group blamed Israel for the attack, which damaged the front section of the ship.

Israel imposed a naval blockade on the coastal enclave after Hamas took control of Gaza in 2007.

The blockade has remained in place through multiple conflicts, including the current war, which began after a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed more than 1200 people, according to an Israeli tally.

Gaza’s health ministry says more than 54,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign. The United Nations has warned that most of Gaza’s more than 2 million residents are facing famine.

The Israeli government says the blockade is essential to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas.

Before the Madleen was intercepted, Defence Minister Israel Katz said that Israel would not allow anyone to break the blockade.

“To the anti-Semitic Greta and her fellow Hamas propagandists – I will say this clearly: you should turn back, because you will not make it to Gaza,” he said in a statement.

Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian activist on board the boat, posted a video on social media on Sunday afternoon saying someone appeared to be jamming their tracking and communication devices about 160 nautical miles from the strip.

Critics of the blockade say it amounts to collective punishment of the territory’s roughly two million Palestinians.

Israel says Hamas chief’s body found

The Israeli army says it has retrieved the body of Hamas military chief Mohammed al-Sinwar in an underground tunnel beneath a hospital in the south of the Gaza Strip, following a targeted operation last month.

Another senior Hamas leader, Mohammad Shabana, commander of the Rafah Brigade, was also found dead at the scene along with a number of other militants, who are still being identified, IDF spokesman Brigadier General Effie Defrin said.

Israeli forces gave a small group of foreign reporters a tour of the tunnel that had been uncovered beneath the European Hospital in Khan Younis, which Defrin said was a major command and control compound for Hamas.

“This is another example of the cynical use by Hamas, using civilians as human shields, using civilian infrastructure, hospitals again and again,” said Defrin.

“We found underneath the hospital, right under the emergency room, a compound of a few rooms. In one of them we found, we killed Mohammed Sinwar,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sinwar’s death last month but Defrin said they now had his DNA which proved beyond doubt it was him.

Hamas has not commented on reports of the death of either Sinwar or Shabana.

Sinwar was the younger brother of Yahya Sinwar, the Palestinian militant group’s deceased leader and mastermind of the October 2023 attack on Israel that killed 1200 people according to Israeli tallies, and which triggered the Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip.

Shabana was one of Hamas’ most senior and battle-hardened commanders in the south of the enclave.

He played a central role in constructing the network of tunnels under the southern city of Rafah, which were used for ambushes and cross-border raids.

The drive to Khan Younis in Israeli military vehicles showed widespread devastation, with countless buildings lying in ruins and piles of rubble collected at the roadside.

The Israeli military has raided or besieged numerous hospitals during the war, alleging that Hamas uses them to conceal fighters and orchestrate operations – a charge Hamas has repeatedly denied.

While Israel has presented evidence in certain cases, some of its assertions remain unverified.

Defrin said the army had carefully planned the strike near the European Hospital in order not to damage it.

A large trench dug in front of the emergency room entrance led down to a hole in the claustrophobic concrete tunnel, that was used as a hideaway by Hamas fighters, the army said.

During the search of the site, Israeli forces recovered weapon stockpiles, ammunition, cash and documents that are now being reviewed for intelligence value.

“We will dismantle Hamas because we cannot live with this terror organisation right in our backyard, right across our border,” Defrin said.

More than 54,000 Palestinians have died during the ongoing Israeli assault, according to Gaza health authorities. The U.N. has warned that most of Gaza’s 2.3 million population is at risk of famine.

–with dpa and Reuters