Israel seizes Gaza Aid boat carrying activist Greta Samberg
The Israeli army took command of a charitable ship run by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. The crew includes activist Greta Samberg.
JERUSALEM, June 10 (Reuters) – Swedish campaigner Greta Samberg was deported from Israel on Tuesday, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said the day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of Palestinian activists from voyages to Gaza.
The 22-year-old Samberg was placed on a flight to France, the ministry said, adding that she would travel to Sweden from there.
Three other people on the charity ship also agreed to an immediate repatriation. Eight other crew members are fighting for an exile order, Israeli rights group Adalah said in a statement.
They will be held at the detention centre prior to court hearings. It was not immediately clear when that would happen.
Israeli forces approached Gaza early on Monday, boarded a charitable ship and tried to break through Israel’s long-standing naval blockade. Israel currently allows only a limited supply of food distributed by the groups it supports.
The British-style yacht was transported to Israel’s port of Ashdod, and the 12 powerful crew members were transferred overnight to Ben Gurion Airport.
Activists said they wanted to raise international awareness about Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, carrying small cargoes of humanitarian assistance, including rice and baby formulas.
Israel has dismissed the voyage as a pro-Hamas promotional stunt. “The small number of aid on yachts and not consumed by ‘celebrity’ will be transferred to Gaza through actual humanitarian channels,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Israel has released an image of Samberg sitting on an airplane before his departure to Paris. She usually refuses to fly due to the aviation industry’s carbon emissions.
Organizers released a video for Thunberg on Monday, and were filmed on Baord before it was captured. There, if it was taken, it meant that Israel had lured her and the rest of the crew in international waters.
Ok to playing cards lol
US President Donald Trump laughed at this: “I think Israel has enough problems without luring Greta Samberg,” he said. “She’s a young, angry person… I think she has to go to an angry management class.”
Israel has imposed naval blockades on coastal enclaves since Hamas ruled Gaza in 2007. Israel says it aims to stop the weapons from reaching Hamas.
The blockade is being implemented through conflicts that began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants rampaging through southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages by Israeli tally.
Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Hamas have killed more than 54,000 Palestinians and destroyed most of the homes of its 2.3 million residents, according to health authorities in Hamas Ran Gaza.
In March, Israel imposed a total lockdown of all supplies reaching Gaza. This says that the United Nations has pushed the population to the brink of hunger. Over the past two weeks, Israel has allowed limited food supplies to be distributed by new Israeli support groups. Israel says it is necessary to prevent Hamas from diverting aid.
(Reporting by Crispian Balmer, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)