ROME/ATHENS: Israeli forces boarded several boats with foreign activists carrying aid to Gaza and took them to an Israeli port on Wednesday, disrupting a protest that had become one of the most high-profile symbols of opposition to Israel’s blockade of the enclave.
A video from the Israeli foreign ministry verified by Reuters showed the most prominent of the flotilla’s passengers, Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
“Several vessels of the Hamas-Sumud flotilla have been safely stopped and their passengers are being transferred to an Israeli port,” the Israeli foreign ministry said on X. “Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.”
The Global Sumud Flotilla, which was carrying medicine and food to Gaza, consisted of more than 40 civilian boats carrying about 500 parliamentarians, lawyers and activists.
Its progress across the Mediterranean Sea had garnered international attention as nations including Turkiye, Spain and Italy sent boats or drones in case their nationals required assistance, even as it triggered repeated warnings from Israel to turn back.
