 "Climate activist Greta Thunberg boards the Madleen boat before setting sail for Gaza along with activists of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, departing from the Sicilian port of Catania, Italy. AP")
Israel vowed Sunday to block an aid boat carrying Greta Thunberg and other activists from reaching Gaza.
Defense Minister Israel Katz stated that Israel will not permit any breach of its naval blockade on Palestinian territory, emphasizing that it was intended to stop Hamas from bringing in weapons.
“I have instructed the military to prevent the Madleen flotilla from reaching Gaza,” Israel Katz said in a statement from his office.
“To the antisemitic 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.
Thunberg, a climate activist, is among 12 activists aboard the Madleen, which is operated by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition.
As the war between Israel and Hamas enters its 21st month, the organisers of the Madleen’s voyage said on Saturday that they had arrived in Egyptian waters and were getting close to Gaza.
The activists had said they planned to reach Gaza’s territorial waters as early as Sunday.
Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament who is of Palestinian descent, is among the others onboard. She has been barred from entering Israel because of her opposition to Israeli policies toward the Palestinians.
The Madleen sailed out of Italy on June 1 with the aim of bringing humanitarian relief and lifting the Israeli bloackade on Palestinian territory.
“Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade of Gaza, which is aimed at preventing weapons from reaching Hamas – a murderous terrorist group holding our hostages and committing war crimes,” Katz said.
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View All“Israel will act against any attempt to break the blockade or support terror groups – by sea, air or land,” he added.
An attempt last month by Freedom 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 and Egypt have imposed varying degrees of blockade on Gaza since Hamas seized power from rival Palestinian forces in 2007. Critics of the blockade say it amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s roughly 2 million Palestinians.
Israel sealed Gaza off from all aid in the early days of the war ignited by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, but later relented under U.S. pressure. In early March, shortly before Israel ended a ceasefire with Hamas, the country again blocked all imports, including food, fuel and medicine.
Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251 hostages, more than half of whom have since been released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Hamas is still holding 55 hostages, more than half of them believed to be dead.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up most of the dead. It doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants.
The war has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced around 90% of the territory’s population, leaving people there almost completely dependent on international aid.
With inputs from agencies