A message from Greta Thunberg may have added pressure on Israel to release the crew of 12 that was captured while sailing for Gaza, hoping to break Israel's blockade of the territory. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition, the group behind the voyage, released a pre-recorded "SOS" message from Thunberg in the early hours of Monday local time in Gaza. "If you see this video, we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces, or forces that support Israel," the Swedish activist says in the clip, appearing in front of a dark sky while calling for "pressure on the Swedish government to release me and the others as soon as possible," per NDTV.
The vessel Madleen had set off for Gaza with a shipment of humanitarian aid, including rice and baby formula, as 2 million residents face famine, but was intercepted about 100 nautical miles from shore, per Al Jazeera. "This seizure blatantly violates international law and defies the [International Court of Justice's] binding orders requiring unimpeded humanitarian access to Gaza," said human rights attorney and Freedom Flotilla organizer Huwaida Arraf, per CNN. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the boat would be taken to Israel, the aid distributed, and the passengers returned home. They were safe and unharmed and given sandwiches and water, the ministry added.
Sweden's government determined the activists are not in danger and there's no need for consular support, while Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris praised the symbolic effort to break the blockade, per Al Jazeera. "The Madleen was an effort to get food and medicine to the starving people of Gaza; an unarmed civilian effort in the midst of devastation and catastrophic humanitarian conditions," Harris said. Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament, was also on the Madleen. She said the crew was "arrested by the Israeli army in international waters around 2am." Later Monday, at least 14 Palestinians were shot and killed by Israeli forces near an aid distribution site in Rafah, Al Jazeera reports. (More Greta Thunberg stories.)
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