Israel expelled Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and three others, after seizing Madleen, the humanitarian aid vessel for Gaza on which Thunberg sailed in a crew of 12.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Thunberg had gone from Tel Aviv early Tuesday, bound for Sweden via France and published its photos on the flight. Upon arrival at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, Thunberg told journalists that she and her companions had been “kidnapped in international waters”.
Natacha Butler of Tel Aviv Tribune, who was one of the journalists interviewing Thunberg at Paris airport, said: “She clearly looked very tired and was in the same clothes she wore when she was detained … It was a fairly difficult number of hours for her.”
While Thunberg said that she was “OK”, she described to be treated as “dehumanization” by the Israeli authorities, said Butler. However, she pointed out that her brief detention was nothing compared to what the Palestinians regularly endure under the Israeli occupation, added Butler.
According to the legal rights group Adalah, which represents Thunberg and the other activists and journalists who sailed in the Madleen ship to Gaza, it was one of the four crew members who accepted the deportation.
Omar Faiad, Tel Aviv Tribune Mubasher Reporter, who was also on Madleen and expelled by Israel, said after his arrival in Paris: “We were imprisoned for three consecutive days, denied the right to contact anyone, even the lawyers … We were then forced to sign a lot of documents. did.”
According to Adalah, the eight activists in detention were brought before an Israeli detention examination in the Ramleh detention center, according to Adalah. The court examined the guarding orders made against them by the Ministry of the Interior, pending their expulsion.
Israel treats the 12 individuals as if they “illegally entered” the country, despite holding them in force in international waters and transferring them to Israeli territory against their will, said Adalah. The 12 were also informed on Monday that Israel had imposed an entry ban over 100 years on each of them. The hearings took place more than five hours on Tuesday.
Adalah’s legal team argued that the interception by Israel on Madleen and the arrest of peaceful and unarmed volunteers trying to break the blockade over Gaza violating international law.
The French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jean-Noel Barrot, said that five of the people subject to a forced expulsion procedure are French nationals who have received consular support. One of them is a French deputy for the European Parliament Rima Hassan, who refused to sign a document indicating that she had illegally entered Israeli territory, according to the French legislative Clemence watched.
Large rallies have taken place in France and in other countries to protest against the interception by Israel of Madleen and the holding of the crew.
“ A legal duty ”
The Israeli naval forces seized Madleen and held its crew early on Monday, at around 100 naval miles (185 km) off Gaza, according to the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group that organized the trip.
The ship, accompanied by the Israeli navy, arrived in the Israeli Port of Ashdod on Monday evening, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He was carrying humanitarian aid, including rice and babies formula, in Gaza, in order to raise awareness of the disastrous humanitarian crisis in the enclave.
Tuesday, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition confirmed the status of those who were on board Madleen.
Freedom Flotilla Coalition Update💥
THE #FreEdomflotillacalition Confirms that 4 of the 12 international waters were expelled, while 8 remain unjustly detained. Israel manages the 12 as if they had entered illegally, even if they … pic.twitter.com/8hfviru0ny
– Freedom Flotilla Coalition (@gazafflotilla) June 10, 2025
The United Nations warned that the whole population of Gaza faces a “catastrophic hunger” after almost two years of war and over two months in which Israel blocked or strongly restricted the entry of food and other essential supplies.
After a total blockade of 11 weeks from March to May, Israel allowed minimum help deliveries to resume. However, the distribution of these supplies was marred by repeated fire, with 130 aid applicants killed since May 27, according to the Gaza Government Media Bureau.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel portrayed the Madleen trip as a blow of public relations, mocking the ship as a “selfie yacht”. In online response, many opponents of the War of Israel have published photos of Israeli forces taking selfies in destroyed Palestinian houses and through the devastated landscape of Gaza.
However, Adalah and other rights experts criticized the seizure of the ship and its crew in violation of international law.
“By intercepting and forcibly blocking the Madleen, which transported humanitarian aid and a team of solidarity activists, Israel has again flouted its legal obligations towards civilians in the busy Gaza Strip,” said Amnesty International.
“Breaking the Siege is a legal duty for the States and a moral imperative for all of us,” said Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur in the occupied Palestinian territories. “Each Mediterranean port should send boats with help, solidarity and humanity to Gaza.”
