Israeli forces have intercepted 39 boats carrying aid and foreign activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, to Gaza, leaving only one vessel still sailing toward the Palestinian enclave, the flotilla organizers said on Thursday.
Cameras broadcasting live feeds from the boats, verified by Reuters, showed Israeli soldiers sporting helmets and night vision goggles boarding the ships, while passengers huddled together in life vests with their hands up.
A video from the Israeli foreign ministry showed Thunberg, the most prominent of the flotilla’s passengers, sitting on a deck surrounded by soldiers.
Passengers diverted to an Israeli port
According to a tracker on the organizer, Global Sumud Flotilla’s website, one boat was still sailing. “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.”
